ZARIOT is a new independent company providing secure SIM cards for the IoT connectivity needs of global enterprises. MEFTV Spoke to the CEO Dawood Ghalaieny about the new business.

Dawood sees the ‘connected chaos’ in IoT as manufacturers are placing SIM cards in a wide range of devices with little consideration over where they would be connected in the future.

Devices can be in the field for long periods of time, from five to fifteen years, and many enterprises fail to understand that there are inherent vulnerabilities in the GSM network. Dawood identifies that there are security issues associated with insecure signalling, SIP, Diameter and GTP. IT people putting SIMs into devices tend to think of security from an IP perspective rather than a telecoms signalling one.

MEFTV speaks to Dawood during this year’s un-MWC

  The drive to lower IoT device cost is creating significant issues as the falling cost means that quality reduces and devices malfunction. This places pressure on the mobile network as many devices may reboot multiple times per day and can cause network outages”

Dawood stresses that providing secure, global connectivity has not been a consideration in the past for many enterprises. A SIM card is not connected locally to its home network but roams globally. It may be placed in a device in one country and subsequently booted up in another one. ZARIOT aims to provide global controlled connectivity from a security and lifecycle  management perspective for global enterprise devices in a range of applications including, automotive, medical, fleet management and smart metering.

The question arises of what happens if these devices encounter functional issues in the field? Dawood states that as it is not a person, a device does not have recourse to support services. This implies that it is important to have the element of control in the device if there are issues with the device modem, for example.

ZARIOT, in partnership with F3 Wireless, based in Minneapolis aims to stem the tide on design flaws which may cause signalling storms. The ZARIOT solution controls the device for both the enterprise and the MNOs. Enterprises have traditionally not had the element of secure control in a GSM network and few manufacturers and OEMs have a deep understanding of the vulnerabilities including denial of service, location tracking and interception. Dawood believes it is critical for MNOs, manufacturers and OEMs to recognise that these security and control issues are out there and that solutions are now available.