This discussion confronts the critical challenges of IoT security and privacy, dissecting the primary threats, common vulnerabilities, and essential protection mechanisms for connected ecosystems. Primary threats to IoT systems, including eavesdropping, data tampering, spoofing, and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks exemplified by the Mirai Botnet attack, are learned about. Common vulnerabilities such as weak credentials, insecure network services, and lack of secure update mechanisms are discovered. The first line of defense, encryption using Transport Layer Security (TLS), which provides confidentiality, authentication, and integrity for data in transit, is explored. The importance of authentication using unique X.509 digital certificates and authorization based on the Principle of Least Privilege is understood. The potential of blockchain as a future security paradigm, offering decentralization and immutability though currently limited by computational overhead and latency, is considered. Security is recognized as a foundational prerequisite for building trustworthy and resilient IoT systems, with standardized encryption, rigorous authentication, and fine-grained authorization policies as the cornerstones of a robust defense.