Cybersecurity in IoT Ecosystems: Risks, Protocols, and Protection Mechanisms

Abstract: The fast development of Internet of Things (IoT) systems has brought
about new challenges to the cybersecurity problem that require effective and
dynamic protection measures. This is a systematic literature review that explores
the risks, protocols, and protection mechanisms implemented in the IoT contexts
and summarizes the results gathered in 75 scholarly publications published
between 2015 and 2025. According to the review, the IoT security environment
is set to evolve, with such protocols as MQTT, CoAP, Zigbee, LoRaWAN, and
6LoWPAN being actively researched in terms of their vulnerabilities and
robustness. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), spoofing, firmware tampering,
and the unauthorized access are commonly recognized threats, as such a level of
risk demands the thorough risk mitigation methodology. The mechanisms of
protection are varied, and the majority are device authentication (42.67%),
intrusion detection systems (34.67%), and blockchain-based solutions (22.67%),
which are the most central in the prevailing IoT security architectures. The
majority of studies (61.33) did not have clear evaluation criteria, including
latency, energy usage, or security ratings, curtailed cross-comparisons, and
methodological clarity. The specific applications of the industry show strong
emphasis on industrial internet of things (32.00%), smart homes (21.33%), and
healthcare internet of things (17.33%), which indicates the domain sensitivity of
cybersecurity policies. In spite of this improvement, the IoT ecosystems still have
to deal with the heterogeneity of devices, limited resources, and partial
standardization that prevent the implementation of the large-scale secure
deployment. This review promotes standardized structures, slim cryptographic
schemes, and experimental underpinning of suggested tools to enhance the
resilience of the IoT. The next generation of research ought to focus on cross
layer security solutions, industry-specific authentication and assimilation of new
technology including artificial intelligence that will be proactive in dealing with
any new forms of cyber threats.
Keywords: internet of things, cybersecurity, iot protocols, risks, protection
mechanisms, industrial internet of things, smart homes, healthcare.