The Internet of Military Things
AJ Poulter Matthew Mackay
Principal Computer Scientist – Data Senior Analyst – Cyber and Novel
Science Team Effects Team
DSTL/PUB109537
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Approved for release: P2PP2R-2018-06-21T12:05:31
03 July 2018
© Crown copyright 2018 Dstl
UK OFFICIAL
Introduction
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)
is an executive agency of the United Kingdom Ministry of
Defence; our role is to ensure that innovative science
and technology contribute to the defence and security of
the UK.
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UK OFFICIAL
Contents
• What is the Internet of Military Things (IoMT)?
• Benefits of the IoMT for Defence
• Cybersecurity Challenges
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UK OFFICIAL
What is the Internet of Military Things (IoMT)?
• Gartner define The Internet of Things as “…the network of physical objects that
contains embedded technologies to communicate and sense or interact with
their internal states or the external environment”.
• Cisco highlighted that in 2016 that while the world’s population stood at 7.4
Billion, the number of connected devices reached approximately 16.28 Billion
– This is set to further increase with the IoT estimated to reach 50 billion connected
devices by 2020 (Manyika et al; 2015);
• The IoMT is the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and
concepts to the military domain
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Benefits of the IoMT
• Military IoT adoption is still in its infancy, however defence companies
and the armed forces are eager to prepare, understand and leverage the
IoT
• The US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), for example,
argues that the IoT will “result in an explosion of capabilities on our
sensitive unclassified and classified networks” (Seffers, 2015);
• There are clear military benefits from the use of IoT devices for the
armed forces, ranging from vehicle maintenance to personnel monitoring
to stock control.
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Source: Connected Solder (Fraga-Lamas et al; 2016: 10)
Blue Force
Tracking
Source: IoT Fleet Management (IoT Now Magazine; 2016)
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UK OFFICIAL
Internet of Battlefield Things
• The US Army take the concept
even further with the idea of the
Internet of Battlefield Things
(IoBT)
• Thousands of dynamically
composed devices with sensors
across the battlefield, exploiting
autonomy & AI to provide
situational awareness & meet
mission goals
Source: US Army Research Lab
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UK OFFICIAL
Cybersecurity Concerns
• A number of high profile attacks, for example the Mirai botnet attack,
have shown that many IoT networks are insecure
– Risk of compromise or loss of data from the device
– Risk of false data spoofing from the device
– Risk to the physical device
– Risk to the networks into which the device is connected
• Before IoT devices are used in the military environment, the risks they
pose must first be properly understood and suitable mitigations put in
place
05 July 2018
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UK OFFICIAL
Summary
• The use of IoT devices in the military environment has the potential to
provide real benefits
• However, numerous examples have demonstrated that IoT devices are
often susceptible to cyber attacks
• The risks that these systems pose must be fully understood and
mitigated before they are implemented within the Military and MOD
environment.
05 July 2018
© Crown copyright 2018 Dstl
05 July 2018
© Crown copyright 2018 Dstl
