KT, Qualcomm tie up over IoT security
Song Jae-ho, right, senior executive at KT’s future business office, shakes hands with Qualcomm Korea Senior Vice Presidnet Lee Tae-won after the two companies agreed to jointly develop devices and equipment for creating secure gateways to the Internet of Things, Thursday. The signing ceremony was held at KT’s new headquarters in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of KT
By Kim Yoo-chul
KT has teamed up with Qualcomm of the United States to jointly develop devices and equipment for creating secure gateways to the Internet of Things (IoT).
“Under the agreement, Qualcomm will develop customized LTE (long-term evolution) chipsets, and KT will develop equipment and other IoT security integrated systems,” announced KT Thursday.
Spokesman Kim Young-wan said that they aim to commercialize IoT security services based on LTE technology by the end of the first half of this year.
“KT is targeting the financial services industry for the commercialization of the products,” Kim said.
Qualcomm has been in talks with KT in business projects, with KT already using Qualcomm's mobile technology.
MEXUS, a local WCDMA LTE gateway system provider, will also jointly develop gateway security technology.
IoT gateway is equipment that allows the transmission of data via LTE, WCDMA and other networks. And in the process of data collection and transmission, security matters.
IoT gateways offer an entirely new way of building networks and services.
As the IoT is comprised of billions of objects that send communication signals in a way that was unheard of a decade ago, it is necessary for companies to set up monitoring of systems operating on the IoT gateway in order to enhance effectiveness, reliability and management of the network.
KT said that its project with Qualcomm is aimed at cutting possible security risks when all electronics devices are more tightly connected.
The products to be developed will work under networks such as LTE, WCDMA, Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Bluetooth.
The increasing connectivity of the Internet and various products has sparked concerns about the possibility of breaches of privacy in the financial and other corporate sectors.
Increasing the number of IoT devices mean that this expansion of interconnectedness will bring new security concerns.
Research firms say that IoT devices will make it easier for hackers to gain access to corporate networks.
Authorities are calling for companies to examine their security practices and adopt new standards in order to safeguard the exponential growth of sensitive data being sent from wired devices.