A network of everyday physical objects fitted with sensors, software, and connectivity that collect and exchange data over the internet without needing human input.
- Examples include smart watches, smart home devices (lights, thermostats, cameras), connected vehicles, industrial machine sensors, and smart electricity and water meters.
- Devices sense their surroundings, send data to the cloud for processing, and can act automatically (for example a thermostat adjusting temperature).
- IoT underpins "smart city" projects in India, including smart traffic management, surveillance cameras, and utility monitoring.
- It works alongside high-speed networks (such as 5G), cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, which analyse the large volumes of data produced.
- Security is a major concern: poorly protected IoT devices can be hijacked into "botnets" for large-scale cyber-attacks, and they collect sensitive personal data.
IoT, smart-city applications, smart meters, and connected surveillance are recurring information-technology items, and IoT security weaknesses are a real internal-security and cyber-defence concern.
IoT refers to physical "things" connected to the internet, not just websites or apps. It is distinct from, but works with, artificial intelligence and cloud computing; IoT gathers data, while AI and cloud often analyse it.
Everyday objects with sensors and internet connectivity that collect and share data automatically; powers smart cities but raises serious cyber-security risks.