Problem

The rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, projected to exceed 30 billion by 2030, has significantly increased cybersecurity risks. Many IoT devices are susceptible to hacking, posing threats to personal privacy and global infrastructure. The inherent capabilities of IoT, such as ubiquitous connectivity, can become vulnerabilities if security and privacy are not adequately managed. Existing research often focuses on isolated security layers, neglecting the cumulative impact of threats across network and application layers, and there's a lack of thorough evaluations linking real-time monitoring with query/scan systems across diverse IoT applications. This creates a critical need for comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities, threats, and robust defense mechanisms.

Method

The study employed an integrative review methodology, synthesizing existing research on cybersecurity impacts and challenges in IoT devices. A qualitative approach was used to gather insights from 59 scholarly articles published between 2009 and 2024, sourced from academic databases like IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, and PubMed. The search criteria focused on keywords such as "cybersecurity effects on IoT," "IoT difficulties," "IoT vulnerabilities," and "threats," with a specific emphasis on the network and application layers. The review aimed to cover IoT security comprehensively, including device functionality, vulnerabilities, threats, and potential remedies. The paper introduces a novel five-layer IoT model (Perception, Network, Support, Application, and Business layers) to provide a structured framework for understanding security requirements.

Results

The survey identified critical threat categories across various architectural layers, including physical layer attacks like node tampering and hardware Trojans, network layer attacks such as routing attacks and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks (e.g., the Mirai botnet), and application layer attacks like malware and data manipulation. Key vulnerabilities were found in sensor systems, public cloud insecurity, and the lack of robust authentication. In response, the study highlighted advanced defense mechanisms, including lightweight cryptography (e.g., Ascon) offering significant energy savings compared to AES-GCM, and robust authentication protocols like Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) for continuous verification and micro-segmentation. Machine Learning-based anomaly detection was shown to effectively identify zero-day attacks, and Blockchain technology was identified for decentralized trust and immutable data integrity using lightweight consensus mechanisms. However, the study also revealed significant trade-offs: implementing post-quantum cryptography for future threats increases key sizes and transmission energy penalties, and deep learning models for high detection accuracy incur high computational latency, necessitating hybrid approaches. Practical deployment faces hurdles due to hardware heterogeneity, scalability challenges in managing large numbers of devices, and multi-vendor interoperability issues.

Implications

The findings underscore the necessity for holistic, adaptable security strategies in IoT ecosystems. Future research directions include developing lightweight post-quantum cryptographic schemes for resource-constrained devices, federated learning frameworks resilient to adversarial attacks, and hybrid intrusion detection architectures that balance accuracy and energy efficiency. Integration of IoT with emerging technologies like 6G networks and edge computing presents new security challenges and opportunities for distributed trust management and AI-assisted defense. Regulatory compliance, such as GDPR, also necessitates privacy-preserving security mechanisms. The paper's five-layer architectural framework and emphasis on Zero Trust principles offer valuable guidance for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in developing secure, resilient IoT systems that can effectively counter evolving cyber threats while maintaining privacy and operational efficiency. The continuous proliferation of IoT across critical infrastructure makes robust, scalable, and adaptive security paramount.