Only 48% of businesses have the infrastructure set up to detect whether their IoT infrastructure is open to a data breach, a report by security firm Gemalto has revealed.

Firms are now asking for the government to intervene and set better regulations around IoT security to prevent potentially damaging hacks into such devices.

In fact, 79% of the 950 decision makers the company spoke to said they think the government should play a more involved part in combating IoT-related cybercrime, whether this is creating a framework for firms to adhere to or making it clearer who is responsible for protecting IoT.

“Given the increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices, it’s extremely worrying to see that businesses still can’t detect if they have been breached,” said Jason Hart, CTO of data protection at Gemalto.

“With no consistent regulation guiding the industry, it’s no surprise the threats – and, in turn, vulnerability of businesses – are increasing. This will only continue unless governments step in now to help industry avoid losing control.”

The leading challenges businesses refer to when discussing IoT security are data privacy (38%) and the collection of large volumes of data – a problem surfaced by 34% of respondents.

However, perhaps surprisingly, Gemalto’s report revealed that only 59% of organisations are investing in IoT security, such as encrypting data sent over the network.

One of the leading technologies adopted by businesses to secure their data against criminals is the use of blockchain and adoption is up to 19% from just 9% in the last year and almost a quarter of firms are now saying they would consider using it to protect their assets.

“Businesses are clearly feeling the pressure of protecting the growing amount of data they collect and store,” Hart continued.

“But while it’s positive they are attempting to address that by investing in more security, such as blockchain, they need direct guidance to ensure they’re not leaving themselves exposed. In order to get this, businesses need to be putting more pressure on the government to act, as it is them that will be hit if they suffer a breach.”