Security and Privacy Challenges in the Internet of Things: A Qualitative Content Analysis
Keywords:
Internet of Things, cybersecurity, data privacy, qualitative content analysis, risk mitigation, layered securityAbstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) allows physical devices to interconnect through networks to collect, process, and exchange data across sectors, including smart homes, industry, healthcare, and public services. While it offers benefits such as automation, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making, the IoT ecosystem also presents complex security and privacy challenges. The heterogeneity of devices, limited computing resources, continuous connectivity, and the management of large volumes of data expand the attack surface and increase the risk of information misuse. This study aims to analyze the main themes in the literature on IoT security and privacy and to formulate mitigation recommendations based on the categories of threat, system layers, and protection mechanisms discussed in prior research. The study uses a qualitative approach with content analysis of literature focused on IoT security, privacy, vulnerabilities, detection mechanisms, and mitigation strategies. The synthesis identifies five main themes: device vulnerabilities and authentication, communication and network security, data protection and privacy, threat detection and response, and security governance across the device lifecycle. The results show that mitigation oriented to a single technology is inadequate for the interrelated risk characteristics of the IoT. A more comprehensive approach is needed through layered security, strong authentication, access restriction, encryption, device updates, anomaly monitoring, privacy protection by design, and continuous governance. The study provides a conceptual framework to help organizations connect threat categories with mitigation mechanisms and implementation needs.
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