DEV Community: Nadejda Alkhaldi

The State of Medical IoT Security and How to Shield Medical Devices from Cyberattacks

Nadejda Alkhaldi — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 10:11:24 +0000

IoT security is still a big issue in the healthcare sector. 82% of hospitals have experienced cyberattacks of some sort after implementing connected devices. A recent survey by PwC doesn't add more optimism to the situation. It shows that only 37% of healthcare executives are "very confident" in their security and privacy processes.

However, this state of affairs doesn't stop hospitals from acquiring more internet of things healthcare devices. The global medical IoT market was valued at $72.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $188.2 billion in 2025. It’s time for healthcare organizations to realize that constantly adding connected devices without proper security protocols will do more harm than good. If you are falling behind in your security initiatives, it is best to turn to professionals and benefit from their cybersecurity services. But before you do, check our 5-step approach to medical IoT security to see what to focus on.

The State of Medical IoT Device Security

As mentioned above, cyberattacks in healthcare are commonplace. Hackers generally target patient records. On the black market, healthcare data is valued at up to $250 per record. The next most valuable entry on the list is credit card details, which are valued at just $5.40.

If attackers succeed in breaching a medical IoT device, they can violate patients' privacy and ruin the clinic's reputation. Such attacks cost hospitals significant sums in regulatory fines. The average cost of resolving a connected medical device's cyberattack is a whopping $346,205. Out of all industries, only logistics and transportation would pay more.

Up to the day of writing this article, there is no evidence of hackers causing physical harm to patients through medical IoT. However, there is proof that this is possible. At the 2018 Black Hat Cyber Security Conference, participants revealed significant flaws in connected devices. For example, Billy Rios and Jonathan Butts demonstrated how attackers could control a Medtronic pacemaker and administer life-threatening shocks to patients.

What Makes Medical IoT Devices Vulnerable?

When it comes to healthcare IoT security, the sector faces several unique challenges.

Legacy systems
According to research, by January 2020, 70% of healthcare devices, such as MRIs and ultrasound machines, ran an unsupported version of Windows. Such operating systems don't install security updates leaving the devices vulnerable to cyberattacks. This weakness was exposed back in 2017 when the WannaCry ransomware attack struck over 300,000 devices. Later, analyses revealed these machines didn't have up-to-date security patches installed, which made this large-scale attack possible.

Another factor contributing to legacy systems’ vulnerability is that some healthcare facilities don't replace multimillion-dollar equipment until it is fully depreciated. These machines don't receive over-the-air updates and do not utilize secure communication protocols.

Lack of coordination between IT and OT
Operational Technology (OT) professionals sometimes ignore security concerns and procure devices without having them tested by their IT colleagues. The same goes for IT professionals, who don't always consider how their security measures may halt operations.

Compliance and certification
Compliance, even though well-intentioned, can also present a hurdle. When hospitals want to upgrade their devices' OS, they must retest all the impacted machines and certify them again.

Absence of an up-to-date inventory of IoT devices
A mid-size healthcare organization may have thousands of connected medical devices. This would require a hospital manager to keep an inventory of all IoT devices to determine where they are located and who is authorized to access them.

Also, devices from different IoT vendors may have diverse communication protocols, each with its own characteristics. Misunderstanding such protocols will lead to vulnerabilities.

How does the Pandemic Influence IoMT?

The pandemic has affected cybersecurity overall. The FBI reports that cyberattacks have increased by 300% since the coronavirus struck.

"Attacks are getting more sophisticated. [451 Research has] definitely seen a sharp uptick in attacks on medical devices during COVID-19. We've seen an increase in attacks on IoT devices in general, but especially in the healthcare sector", says Christian Renaud, Research Director of IoT with 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The healthcare industry already struggled to secure medical IoT devices before the pandemic. During the COVID-19 surge, healthcare providers rely on IoMT for remote patient monitoring and telehealth even more frequently. Patients access IoT devices over their personal networks, pushing healthcare providers out of the security equation.

Furthermore, during the pandemic, healthcare clinics are understaffed and face immense pressure to deliver care promptly. Strict cybersecurity regulations can slow down hospital operations, creating a conflict of interest.
Finally, to cope with COVID, healthcare providers set up quarantine units and field hospitals, which further increases the possibility of cyberattacks.

Connected Medical Devices that Can Fall Victim to Cyberattacks

When prescribing the use of medical IoT devices, healthcare providers mostly focus on improving patient care and ignore the security aspect of connected devices. As a result, these devices have serious vulnerabilities. Below are some examples.

Insulin pumps
Insulin pumps account for over half of the medical IoT deployed today.
In June 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a strict warning to doctors and patients regarding certain Medtronic MiniMed insulin pumps. It came to the FDA's attention that unauthorized users can connect to these devices through Wi-Fi and change the pumps’ settings over-delivering insulin to patients. Medtronic identified over 4,000 patients using the vulnerable pump.

At the same time, Health Canada issued a similar warning regarding Medtronic MiniMed and MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps distributed during 2010 – 2015.

Vital sign monitors
The convenience of remotely measuring vital signs creates a considerable advantage while monitoring chronic diseases. Patients don't need to frequent the clinic, while at the same time their physicians are constantly aware of their situation and can intervene as soon as their vital signs destabilize. Unfortunately, such a setup can be prone to hacking.

The McAfee Advanced Threat Research team demonstrated the ability to hack into a medical network and falsify patients' vital signs in real time. During the experiment, the team changed the patient's heartbeat from 80 beats/second to zero in just five seconds.

MRI and CT scans
A research team from Ben Gurion University developed and tested malware that can add/remove tumors from medical images. In a scientific experiment, they used the malicious program to alter 70 scans and were able to trick three radiologists into misdiagnosing the patients with cancer. The team focused on lung scans, but hackers can adjust the malware to fabricate brain tumors, fractures, blood clots, and spinal issues.

According to the researchers, these scans were vulnerable because they were neither digitally signed nor encrypted. So, it would be impossible to identify any malicious changes.

5-Step Approach to Help Healthcare Providers Secure Their Medical IoT Infrastructure

Healthcare processes are different from other industries. Therefore, what suits others doesn't necessarily work for healthcare. For example, zero-trust might not be suitable within healthcare settings.

"We’re not protecting a laptop that if I lock you out of it, it sucks, you lose a day’s work. If I lock the nurses out of their workstation because I detected some sort of anomaly, I may have just killed people,” notes Jamison Utter, Senior Business Development Manager for IoT at Palo Alto Networks.”

Below are five steps that your organization can use to improve medical device IoT security and mitigate risks.

Step 1: Control the Procurement Process

Keep security in mind while thinking about purchasing your next medical device. In some healthcare organizations, doctors select the equipment and procure it on their own without consulting the IT department. Medical professionals don’t generally have the appropriate background to assess a device’s security well enough, introducing vulnerabilities to the whole system.

To get purchasing under control, establish a mature procurement process, where the IT department evaluates every device selected by the medical staff.

Step 2: Segment Devices to Create Secure Zones

Network segmentation is a security best practice cited in the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Nevertheless, the healthcare industry is relatively slow in adopting it.

A well-implemented segmentation puts devices that are similar from the security standpoint into the same zone. There are several approaches you can take for segmentation. For example, you can choose to put all shared devices, such as MRI scanners, in a separate zone. Another option is to segment based on location by placing all devices on one floor in the same area. Alternatively, you can separate devices based on ownership—hospital-owned, employee-owned, and patient-owned. Or a more intricate segmentation can be adopted.

The main benefit of segmentation is isolating breaches. If an intruder gains access to one device, they will be limited in their movement around the network. It also facilitates the job of security experts who want to trace the attack to its entry point.

Step 3: Perform Vulnerability Assessment and Classify Device Risks

Medical device security scanning will help you identify vulnerabilities in your IoMT network. The problem with it is that it can uncover a large array of weaknesses and deciding which ones to address first can be a daunting task. Some healthcare providers might consider opting for technical risk as the basis for prioritization. So, if exploiting a vulnerability shuts down the device, then the security team will address this weakness first. This approach doesn’t take into account contextual information, such as whether the device is connected to a patient and what services it delivers.

A more holistic approach to this problem is to consider the following four pillars while prioritizing risk:

Patient impact: what effect the vulnerability will have on patients if exploited. For example, a denial-of-service attack can shut down a pacemaker causing a patient’s death.

Organizational impact: the impact on healthcare facility workflows. If exploiting a security weakness disrupts workflows, it can cause significant damage. Take, for example, an IoT management system that alerts a hospital maintenance crew to clean emergency rooms before a new patient moves in. If this system is disrupted, new patients in critical condition will not receive the help they need.

Financial impact: if hackers exploit the financial impact-related vulnerability, hospitals will have to pay regulatory fines and suffer reputational damage. For instance, if a patient had their records maliciously accessed, no one else would want their EHR stored in this hospital’s database.

Regulatory impact: regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require hospitals to implement particular policies and processes for security. Organizations that don’t get in line will face enormous fines reaching millions of US dollars.

Step 4: Make Sure Your Organization Follows Strict Security Measures

You need to establish security awareness as a part of your corporate culture and ensure that only authorized employees can access medical devices. Here are examples of how to improve your organization’s security hygiene:

Impose authentication and authorization: this includes authenticating users when accessing devices and authenticating devices that communicate with the server or other devices on the network. Avoid hardwired credentials and let users benefit from multi-factor authentication techniques.

Make sure data is encrypted: encrypt sensitive data stored in your database and the data flowing between medical devices. Use a cryptographic signature to secure transmitted data against tampering.

Implement logging and auditing: create a log of security actions, such as where the data is coming from and who has access to sensitive data. Monitor and detect any suspicious activities, including failed authentications and unauthorized device access.

Make sure software is updated regularly: implement a secure update process—cryptographically sign all updates and require user/device authentication before applying them.

Step 5: Guide Patients on How to Use Their IoT Devices

When introducing patients to the medical internet of things, hospitals can’t just assume that everyone is familiar with cybersecurity basics. It would help if you supplied your patients with clear guidelines on installing medical devices, how to approach authentication, and how to configure their home network to ensure a secure connection for transmitting sensitive data to the doctor.

Takeaways

Despite all the challenges associated with the healthcare internet of things security, it has the potential to transform the patient and doctor experience. To be successful, you need to apply a comprehensive approach to security. This starts with reviewing your IoT procurement process and extends to device segmentation, data encryption, access authorization, and risk assessment. Your security framework should even expand to include patients using their IoT devices on their personal networks.

Proof of Concept in Software Development: Disambiguation and Real-life Examples

Nadejda Alkhaldi — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 15:01:17 +0000

The success rate of IT projects is underwhelming as they continuously come up short on their schedule and budget targets. On average, IT projects overrun their budget by 27%. Furthermore, one in six projects exceeds the costs by 200% and the schedule by 70%.

Different project management studies offer a multitude of solutions, from training project managers to building effective teams to mastering new technology. However, there is one easier-to-implement solution that will help you put your project on the right track from the beginning and avoid unpleasant surprises later on: perform a PoC (proof of concept) to assess the feasibility of your idea before getting down to actual development and avoid wasting resources later on.

What is Proof of Concept?

Proof of concept is defined as a general approach to testing the feasibility of an idea before involving production-scale resources. It is one of several initiatives preceding project execution.

First of these is the discovery phase. The discovery phase is dedicated to exploring the contextual details of your project. This process includes understanding the overall business vision of the product, goals you want to achieve, potential challenges, stakeholders’ expectations, and market competition. If this investigation is delayed to later stages, such as business analysis and product development, the results often negatively impact the entire project. The information gathered throughout the discovery phase will help in resource estimation and can be used in upcoming phases such as the proof of concept.

In software development, PoC solutions revolve around the technical viability of an idea rather than its market impact. It is a process of examining software ideas to prove a solution can be built at a reasonable cost and is applicable in practice. This step determines which technology is the most appropriate for the task.

4 Ways You Can Benefit from a PoC

A PoC highlights potential challenges that can delay projects at later stages, help identify troublesome features and experiment with different fixes, save money in the long run, and attract investors.

Examine Your Features

Using a PoC means you get the chance to determine whether the set of features you are planning to incorporate into your product can work as intended. If the test shows that a particular feature is not feasible, you can still look into questions such as:

Can a particular feature be beneficial in a different setup? Or is it not viable at all?
Is it possible to consider other approaches to solving this problem?
Will the product still function if a particular feature is removed?

Discover Potential Challenges

Developing and executing a PoC can help project managers to better prepare for project execution and address the potential setbacks earlier in the product development stage, instead of being unpleasantly surprised when the release date is approaching, or after the product is already launched.

Even though a PoC does not guarantee smooth project completion, it increases the likelihood of success as it allows us to prepare for potential setbacks in advance.

Save Time and Money

Even though investing in a PoC does consume some time and resources, identifying potential issues at this phase is cheaper than discovering them during the actual development process. Additionally, a proof of concept can help select the correct path to follow throughout the execution.

One example of saving resources with the help of a PoC is presented by the city of Belfort. Belfort is a French city that was looking to save money on bus transportation with the help of smart city solutions. The consultancy firms responsible for the project were determined to run a PoC. The scope was to find the best strategy for positioning sensors on public buses to identify aspects such as congestion points and bus speed at different rout sections. After completing the PoC, consulting companies were able to gather useful data at a minimal cost. The resulting insights were implemented and set Belfort on its way towards saving up to €250,000 per year.

Encouraging Stakeholders to Invest

For businesses/teams looking for funding, a PoC can be an effective way to win over potential investors. The fact that a team is able to put together and successfully execute a proof of concept initiative demonstrates they have a clear business vision and are sure of their goals and capabilities. Results obtained through PoC will leave a more favorable impression on stakeholders than a bland PowerPoint presentation.

Which Projects Can Benefit from a PoC

PoC solutions are potentially applicable to all types of software development in different industries. It may make sense under some circumstances to skip the PoC phase. However, if the following conditions are present its not advisable to move forward without one:

The team has little experience with the technology they are planning to work with
The team is hesitant about the features that will be included in the final product
The product you’re developing is somewhat complex or innovative
The funding is rather limited, and the team wants to verify whether it is possible to create the product under such a constraint

PoC vs. Prototype vs. Minimum Viable Product

Some people use those terms interchangeably or even consider a prototype and MVP to be a part of the PoC process. However, those concepts do differ.

A proof of concept is a small-scale test used to determine whether the idea is viable. It does not result in building a version of the actual product.

In contrast, a prototype is a draft version of the end product. Even though it includes design, layout, navigation, etc. it is not ready to go to market. It is used to evaluate the product’s design, functionality, and usability of particular features.

A minimum viable product is a lighter version of the final product. It is bug-free and more developed than a prototype. MVP is ready to hit the market and is beneficial in evaluating product marketability and usability with potential consumers. The MVP concept is primarily derived from the Lean Startup methodology.

Both prototype and MVP can be regarded as the next step after a PoC produces desirable results.

PoC in Software Development: Examples

As we established above, almost any project can benefit from the PoC exercise. Here are a few real-life proof of concept examples from Softeq, a software development company, which demonstrate how PoC was used to prove the technical feasibility of an idea.

Visitor Counting Algorithm Optimization

An advertisement company was working on banner networks when it realized its Absolute Unique Count algorithm was taking over 24 hours to refresh the count of unique visitors to its advertisement campaigns. This time period is unacceptably long as the employees working on calculation tasks were unable to properly carry out their work. There was an urgent need for optimization. The team assigned to this task came across a probability model algorithm that could potentially do the trick.

However, the current algorithm relied on a multitude of factors, and a full optimization would be a complicated, expensive, and time-consuming process. Furthermore, it was not clear if the proposed solution would offer a significant time reduction for refreshing visitor counts while remaining within the acceptable accuracy level (given that the current algorithm was rather accurate). The company was hesitant to allocate resources to a project with such uncertainty.

The development team put forward a PoC initiative to test the proposed algorithm on a small scale. It used only one of the current Absolute Unique Count algorithm’s criteria: updating the daily visitor count without any further segmentation. The team created a test database and implemented the calculation code. This process was rather marginal in comparison to optimizing the whole algorithm. The PoC had the following goals:

Understanding whether an SQL query would still work with this type of setup
Examining the resulting count refresh speed to see how much faster it would be than the original algorithm
Ensuring that the statistical count accuracy was at an acceptable level

Results

The PoC confirmed the hypothesis as the algorithm proved to produce accurate results and decrease the time needed to refresh visitor count to just 3 minutes. The team members documented the whole process and presented it to the management to obtain approval for optimizing the entire algorithm.

Migrating an App for Drone Image Inspection

A drone-inspection company was using an app for processing and viewing imagery captured by drones during oil rig inspections. The tech stack underlying this app comprised J2EE with VRaptor. VRaptor was becoming obsolete, and the company wanted to upgrade the application to a more reliable and up-to-date tech stack. They contacted Softeq who suggested migrating the solution to Spring MVC.

The company was still rather hesitant. They did not want to deactivate their VRaptor-based application during the migration period, so Softeq proposed conducting a PoC to investigate the following possibilities:

Limiting the number of endpoints handled by VRaptor during the migration period
Handling all new endpoints with Spring without interfering with VRaptor
Synching the data from both technologies at the end of the migration process

Results

The PoC demonstrated that it was feasible to perform migration while the old VRaptor-based app was still up and running. It was also possible to reuse existing business logic. Aside from confirming the hypothesis, the PoC revealed a serious security breach that would be present throughout the migration process: during the identification phase, the VRaptor part had to be contacted and therefore shared its state through cookies.

App-to-browser Video Content Streaming Solution for AR Glasses

An augmented reality company produces AR glasses for business needs, such as on-site inspections. These glasses have a video capturing the Android app installed. The manufacturer wanted to experiment with connecting this Android app to a web app, which would stream the video in a browser so that when a construction worker is inspecting some equipment, their manager can also follow along live on a screen.

The AR company started looking for technology vendors to execute this project. Softeq being the selected vendor, set up a PoC to test the capability of the chosen technology to handle video streaming.

Results

The PoC proved the technology was a good fit, but also highlighted a problem with the resolution while rendering videos on desktop screens.

Final Thoughts

PoC in software development can be a useful preliminary step for any project. It is particularly important for lengthy, costly, and innovative projects. A PoC tells you whether your idea is viable before you start spending money and other resources on a project that will not yield the desired outcome.

It is critical to document every step of the PoC process. Whether your company is undertaking it for internal projects, or external clients, you should always maintain documentation. Write down configurations, architecture, different tools you are using, the results achieved, and recommendations. Giving a detailed description of the environment is critical for replicating success during the actual project.

How IoT Empowers Digital Signage to Become a Viable Business Tool

Nadejda Alkhaldi — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 10:04:45 +0000

Screens that convey information to people in public places (stores, streets, educational establishments, hospitals, etc.) have become an integral part of modern city life. These LED, LCD, or projection screens display content that informs, educates, and engages nearby viewers.

Digital signage is gaining popularity as an information-sharing medium due to advancements in technology. The technological capability to deliver digital images is peaking, while the cost of high-definition displays is decreasing. Different streaming solutions for digital signage are now available, and it is possible to control and manage data streaming over Wi-Fi. As a result, the global digital signage market is expected to reach $29.8 billion by 2024, rising at a CAGR of 8.6% from 2018.

Nowadays, this technology can be leveraged to advance your business by reacting to the outside world and displaying creative targeted content, attracting the attention of your current and potential customers.

When coupled with IoT, digital signage can act upon data received in real time, create a personalized experience for your visitors, and deliver targeted content, which can sway consumers towards your product or your company.

In this digital signage case, advertising agencies are using signages in public locations to broadcast their ads and reach their target audience.

How IoT Enhances Digital Signage

“There is far more information in the world than people could possibly type in through a keyboard or scan with a barcode. In the twenty-first century, because of the Internet of Things, computers can sense things for themselves.”

Kevin Ashton, co-founder of the Auto-ID Lab at the Massachusetts University of Technology

The key component of the Internet of Things system is the data generated by those “things”. Enriched with this data, digital signage becomes more than just a screen, it starts reacting to the real world and reflecting it. Connecting this technology with IoT devices results in “signage with a brain” enabling it to:

Perform operations based on changes in circumstances: adding sensors enables digital screens to adapt their content based on the weather, traffic, or other relevant conditions.
Interact with the surroundings: digital screens can be either configured to allow direct interaction with people through a touch screen, or an indirect interaction through sensors. One example of the latter scenario is when the signage connects to consumers’ smartphones and reviews past purchases they have made through the store’s app. Using this data, businesses can personalize their ads and promote similar or compatible products.
Gain valuable insights through data analysis: the connected devices generate a vast amount of data, and provided it is collected and analyzed properly, this information helps generate innovative business ideas. For instance, this data allows AI-based algorithms to learn customers’ habits based on their demographics and purchasing behavior, thus laying the foundation for more targeted advertising.

Digital signage can accommodate different types of IoT devices such as thermometers, cameras, beacons, and GPS sensors.

IoT-Enhanced Digital Signage applications

Even though digital signage and IoT really shine in the retail industry by enabling targeted advertisement, this duo is expanding to other industries including healthcare and education. In healthcare, it entertains patients and helps medical staff to perform examinations and manage alerts. In education, it engages students with informative content and assists in emergencies.

Digital Signage in Healthcare

IoT technologies are widely used in healthcare, capturing the attention of Internet of Things software development companies. The global IoT healthcare market reached $55.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to rise to $188 billion in 2024. The technology’s use cases in healthcare ranges from connected contact lenses to ingestible sensors to smart insulin pumps. Coupling IoT with digital signage will further empower healthcare and expand a plethora of IoT applications. Here are a few prominent ones:

Patient Entertainment in Waiting Rooms

Waiting for an appointment can be rather frustrating especially when there are considerable delays. Digital signage can ease the tension by displaying relevant educational healthcare information, for example: messages about the importance of flu vaccines, benefits of regular medical checkups, or various support group meeting schedules. Such information can capture the patient's attention and reduce the perceived waiting time.

An IoT-connected display positioned at a hospital’s entrance can act as a receptionist. Upon arrival, patients can check into the digital signage system, which will connect to the doctor’s office to confirm the appointment, and then, display a wayfinding map to help patients navigate to their waiting rooms.

Patient Assistance During Examination

During examinations, physicians can connect digital screens to their patient's EHR, and other medical data sources like wearable sensors, in order to display a comprehensive picture of their health. Furthermore, displays can be used to present examination results to patients and to compare treatment options showing them side by side.

Alert Handling in Hospitals

Hospitalized patients are usually connected to several sensors, which are a part of a complete IoT ecosystem. Those sensors are measuring vital signs and monitoring other health aspects. When something goes wrong, sensors trigger an alarm, requiring a medical staff member to check upon the affected patient. Unfortunately, many of those alarms are false, and extensive alarm fatigue in nurses is very real. Connecting digital signage to the alarm triggering sensors broadcasts the emergency to several people instead of just directly connecting to one nurse’s phone. Furthermore, the signage can be configured to display patient details along with a hospital map to coordinate intervention efforts.

Digital Signage in Retail

The retail sector offers numerous opportunities for digital signage application. For example, it can be used to attract customers’ attention, advertise the right product at the right time, and generate impulsive purchases. Additionally, companies can employ smart digital screens to make their products stand out against the competition. Coca-Cola HBC Russia has used digital signage technology to differentiate its products in supermarkets by placing them on digital shelves.

Below are two common applications of IoT and digital signage technology in retail:

Innovative Product Introduction

IoT and digital signage can be used to capitalize on consumers’ curiosity. A handful of the selected products can be equipped with sensors, and as soon as a consumer lifts one of those products, relevant information is broadcasted on a digital display. This information includes how the product was made and/or some of its unconventional uses.

Promotion Customization

This application is based on online customer behavior data. If a customer is interested in a particular store, they are likely to download its app and browse products online. When they walk into the physical store, the signage will “remember” the last products the customer checked using the app, and will display relevant promotions.

Digital Signage in Education

Large digital screens in school hallways can enhance the educational process and keep students busy.

Engaging Content Promotion

Educational staff leverages digital signage technology to broadcast school social media and news, present educational events, publicize students’ achievements, and advertise the school for visitors. Bridgewater College employs signage to motivate students by showing success stories of their predecessors. Visitors to the school's business department can see how their alumni became successful business owners or CEOs. Consequently, digital signage keeps students up to date on the school’s news and motivates them by presenting real-life success stories.

Assistance in Emergencies

In light of the unfortunate rise of school shootings, security is emerging as a primary concern among school administrators. Strategically positioned buttons and sensors can detect danger, alert the authorities and initiate school lockdowns. Digital signage connected to those sensors can display alerts together with sensor data and give further instructions and directions to students, all the while transmitting real-time updates to police monitors.

Key Takeaways for Businesses

IoT-enabled digital signage is a useful, but still a rather complex system which is challenging to coordinate and manage. However, with all the success it has achieved in different industries, digital signage is worth a try. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Start with something simple. The basic version of digital displays can also be effective, while sparing you from getting overwhelmed with managing large amounts of data.
Assess the real cost of owning digital signage. Do not make the mistake of only considering the initial investment of purchasing the screen and the sensors. Keep in mind the additional costs including installation, maintenance, content and data management.
Look for a partnership, rather than a one-time sale when choosing a supplier. A partner will help you develop a long-term strategy for maintenance and content updates, and will advise you on the point of deployment.

In the age of information abundance, when consumers are bombarded with data, it is challenging for businesses to capture consumers’ attention. Coupled with the IoT, digital signage offers a great opportunity for organizations to present their message to the right people at the right time. Additionally, this technology can be the solution for organizations struggling to channel their internal communication. Finally, digital signage can be a basis for your own innovative way of process optimization.