LOCH Technologies
Broadening Visibility over IoT Ecosystems

Wireless is the new frontier for IoT deployments in the age of hyperconnectivity. Studies conducted by Gartner confirm that over 80 percent of new IoT networks are wirelessly connected via network endpoints, which would not only act as entry points for user data but also as an attack surface for threat actors. Therefore, visibility across wireless networks is a preeminent trait desired by businesses/organizations aspiring to establish/enable/govern IoT ecosystems. LOCH Technologies—a pioneer in IoT Security and Threat Mitigation—provisions such comprehensive and granular visibility within this threat landscape, thereby helping healthcare, financial services, hospitality, and several other enterprise sectors bolster and safeguard their IoT networks.

“The goal of the LOCH’s IoT platform is to provide visibility across unsecured, misconfigured, or unmanaged IoT devices connected through wireless networks,” explains Garry Drummond, CEO of LOCH Technologies. The company’s AirShield solution features a customized software-defined radio that scans and lists all RF emissions within a defined environment from 300 MHz to 6 GHz. In context, some of the most commercially viable products within any industry operate within these frequencies, which more often than not require some listeners and interpreters to understand signals passing through, very similar to how conventional radio receivers and transmitters function. LOCH Technologies safeguards the spectrum of communication devices, from the standard 2.4GHz WiFi to cellular, 4G, 5G, Bluetooth, and similar edge computing devices.

AirShield listens, interprets, and translates the communication across these devices and delivers on three core tenets of cybersecurity. First, in terms of asset discovery, AirShield monitors the airspace on a 24/7 basis, understanding multiple protocols and frequencies. Second, upon discovery, the solution ranks risks in the order of severity, ensuring that all entry points into a network are well-protected.

Third, LOCH Technologies then enforces a zero-trust security posture, wherein it can shut down an imminent attack when faced with a deviation of policy or unacceptable IoT vulnerability condition. Ranking these threats in order of severity also allows the clients to separate signal intelligence from noise to focus on real threats, providing them with ‘eyes and ears’ in this invisible wireless threat landscape. LOCH offers remediation capabilities through Air Isolation to eliminate threats before they compromise the network.

The goal of the LOCH’s IoT platform is to provide visibility across unsecured, misconfigured, or unmanaged IoT devices connected through wireless networks,”

The utility of the AirShield solution was showcased in a recent collaboration with one of LOCH Technologies’ partners specializing in Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM). The client used AirShield to defect nefarious, rogue IoT connections, which use the espionage method of exfiltration, resolving a critical supply chain integrity problem. AirShield was tasked with monitoring a Secure Compartmental Information Facility (SCIF) in a proof of concept initiative, identifying supply chain compromises, alternative frequency communications/ covert communication channels, and rogue device insertions. Interestingly enough, AirShield detected an IoT spy camera, which collected information continually waiting to be retrieved by the threat actor. LOCH Technologies not only mitigated the looming concern before it caused colossal damages to the client by locating the root device but also managed to retrieve an SD card that continually aggregated confidential information. This engagement highlights the prowess of AirShield and LOCH Technologies’ risk mitigation and threat resolution capabilities.

The company demonstrates two essential characteristics through all such efforts: 1. signal intelligent technologies that offer clients a competitive advantage in the marketplace to detect, assess and prevent risk from IoT, and 2) provides a fully managed white glove service called AirGuard to manage and monitor a customer environment staffed with wireless experts on hand.