Security challenges in IoT environments
Pradeep Kumar Tiwari, Dinesh Paswan, Vishwdeep Mishra, Salim Khan, Shweta Macknight, Ankush Yadav · 2026
The intensive spread of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices has transformed human interaction with the physical and virtual worlds such that anyone can interact with the physical and digital world remotely and automate and have data-based decisions in various fields of activity (healthcare, smart cities, industrial systems, and transportation). Nonetheless, such broad interconnectivity also poses great security risks, exposing the IoT landscape to diverse threats, such as unauthorized access, data leaks, device hijacking, network-based attacks, etc. The study explores systematically the security issues of IoT ecosystems, focusing on the interaction of device heterogeneity with resource limitations and dynamism of SuoTWC on the network. The research provides a critical overview of vulnerabilities found by studying the available literature, case studies, and practical threat analysis, and defines credential types (weak authentication and default configurations) and poor communication protocols, alongside other types of vulnerabilities that manifest as the lack of privacy. Moreover, the thesis also examines the consequences of IoT security breaches within digital and physical contexts, outlining situations in which attacks can cause physical and/or material damage to users and infrastructure. The study also considers modern security models, lightweight cryptography, and intrusion detection systems in lightweight IoT devices. A synthesis of these findings offers a detailed insight into the problem of IoT security and sets out its guidelines that should be pursued to improve the resilience, secure sensitive data, and guarantee the trustworthy functioning of the IoT ecosystems. The lessons learned from this paper should help guide researchers, developers, and policymakers in creating tough, secure, and sustainable IoT solutions that could withstand the constantly changing cyber threats.