IDC projects that there will be 55 Bn+ connected devices worldwide by 2025, and that 75% of them will be connected to an IoT platform. Also, data generated from these devices is estimated to increase to 73.1 ZB by 2025 from 18.3 ZB in 2019. This hyperscale growth in the number of IoT devices and a massive amount of streaming data increases the attack surface on the IoT devices by an order of magnitude. Reasons these devices are vulnerable include, legacy OS, outdated device firmware, default passwords, and easy physical access. Additionally, major zero-day vulnerabilities like Ripple20, growth in IoT cyber-attacks, DDoS attacks in deployed IoT devices along with tightening security regulations have underlined the need to secure the IoT ecosystem from the hardware level to the cloud layer.

Launched commercially in 2020, Microsoft’s Azure Sphere aims to enable secure edge connectivity. The solution is rooted in hardware, in the form of its Pluton security subsystem, and managed from the cloud, using its Azure Sphere Security Service. Here are some of the key factors that you should consider while leveraging Azure Sphere for your connected product development initiatives.