Embedded system security (original) (raw)
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Not long ago, it was thought that only software applications and general purpose digital systems i.e. computers were prone to various types of attacks against their security. The underlying hardware, hardware implementations of these software applications, embedded systems, and hardware devices were considered to be secure and out of reach of these attacks. However, during the previous few years, it has been demonstrated that novel attacks against the hardware and embedded systems can also be mounted. Not only viruses, but worms and Trojan horses have been developed for them, and they have also been demonstrated to be effective. Whereas a lot of research has already been done in the area of security of general purpose computers and software applications, hardware and embedded systems security is a relatively new and emerging area of research. This chapter provides details of various types of existing attacks against hardware devices and embedded systems, analyzes existing design methodologies for their vulnerability to new types of attacks, and along the way describes solutions and countermeasures against them for the design and development of secure systems.
Security considerations in embedded systems
… of Computer Engineering, Vienna University of …, 2006
This survey describes security aspects of embedded systems in the automotive and avionic domain. Since distributed embedded systems in both domains are typically hosting complex and often mission-critical software, the issue of protecting the system from illegal access is of utmost importance. The report surveys the existing literature, reviews current projects and explains the terms used in information security with a focus on embedded security. It represents the state-of-the-art in embedded security and especially evaluates security considerations for the embedded systems domain. Firstly, computer security in general and its neighboring domains are reviewed. Then approaches to implicitly achieve security by design are discussed. Next, cryptographic techniques to implement security are reviewed and an overview of attacks, their countermeasures, and attack detection is given. The theoretic concepts of a firewall and their application in practice are presented in another section. Finally, some current projects targeting security are listed and a conclusion is drawn.
Embedded Systems: Security Threats and Solutions
With the increasing use of embedded devices in our daily life, security threats have also been increasing in a proportional rate. However, ensuring security in the embedded systems has become a great challenge not only for the embedded device experts but also for the manufacturers. The problem especially arises because of the limited hardware and software implementation options for the designers. At the same time, companies are trying to keep the vulnerabilities of the operating system of those embedded devices in secret and they are not relieving any necessary security updates quickly. It has become very urgent to ensure proper security of the embedded systems to save it from any major technological disaster near future. In this paper, we have broadly discussed the structures, characteristics and applications of different embedded devices in our daily life. Beside this, we have also discussed about the different causes of security threats and some of our suggested solutions to protect the systems from the attackers as well that we have found in our research
Security in Embedded Systems : Vulnerabilities , Pigeonholing of Attacks and Countermeasures
2016
Embedded systems are growing by leaps and bounds in many domains such as automobiles, industrial control, mobile phones etc. As these devices have started integrating in our daily life we need to look into for some critical measures that is security of these embedded systems. In this paper we look at existing threats and vulnerabilities in embedded systems. We envision that the findings in this paper provide a valuable insight of the threat landscape facing embedded systems. The knowledge can be used for a better understanding and the identification of security risks in system analysis and design.
Embedded Systems Security Challenges
In a world of pervasive computing, embedded systems can be found in a wide range of products and are employed in various heterogeneous domains. The abovementioned devices often need to access, store, manipulate and/or communicate sensitive or even critical information, making the security of their resources and services an important concern in their design process. These issues are further exacerbated by the resource-constrained nature of the devices, in conjunction with the ever-present need for smaller size and lower production costs. This paper aims to provide an overview of the challenges in designing secure embedded systems, covering both node hardware and software issues, as well as relevant network protocols and cryptographic algorithms. Moreover, recent advances in the field are identified, highlighting opportunities for future research.
Security as a New Dimension in Embedded System Design
The growing number of instances of breaches in information security in the last few years has created a compelling case for efforts towards secure electronic systems. Embedded systems, which will be ubiquitously used to capture, store, manipulate, and access data of a sensitive nature, pose several unique and interesting security challenges. Security has been the subject of intensive research in the areas of cryptography, computing, and networking. However, security is often mis-construed by embedded system designers as the addition of features, such as specific cryptographic algorithms and security protocols, to the system. In reality, it is an entirely new metric that designers should consider throughout the design process, along with other metrics such as cost, performance, and power. This paper is intended to introduce embedded system designers and design tool developers to the challenges involved in designing secure embedded systems. We attempt to provide a unified view of embedded system security by first analyzing the typical functional security requirements for embedded systems from an end-user perspective. We then identify the implied challenges for embedded system architects, as well as hardware and software designers (e.g., tamper-resistant embedded system design, processing requirements for security, impact of security on battery life for batterypowered systems, etc.). We also survey solution techniques to address these challenges, drawing from both current practice and emerging research, and identify open research problems that will require innovations in embedded system architecture and design methodologies.
Evolution of Embedded Platform Security Technologies: Past, Present & Future Challenges
2020 IEEE 33rd International System-on-Chip Conference (SOCC), 2020
In recent years, the proliferation of intelligent embedded technologies is opening venues to new service and computing models, providing diverse socioeconomic benefits. These intelligent technologies are giving rise to a wide range of public and private applications by sharing and analysing generated data. This includes smart home, smart health, smart city, autonomous vehicles, smart grid and smart manufacturing etc. However, where this sharing of data brings benefits and opportunities, it simultaneously presents security risks and challenges. The realisation and prototyping of such technologies require a computing hardware widely available in the form of an embedded platform. The security perimeter and the attack surface of these platforms rely on their supported security and defence mechanisms. This paper aims to build a body-of-knowledge in this area for the security research community. It present the state-of-theart security frameworks and architectures, discuss architectural shortcomings and root-causes of leading security technologies rather than discussing vulnerabilities and attacks. The paper concludes advocating secure-by-design platform approach and classifying platform security methods to realise robust embedded platform security architecture.
On security issues in embedded systems: challenges and solutions
International Journal of Information and Computer Security, 2008
Ensuring security in embedded systems translates into several design challenges, imposed by the unique features of these systems. These features make the integration of conventional security mechanisms impractical, and require a better understanding of the whole security problem. This paper provides a unified view on security in embedded systems, by introducing first the implied design and architectural challenges. It then surveys and discusses the currently proposed security solutions that address these challenges, drawing from both current practices and emerging research, and identifies some open research problems that represent the most interesting areas of contribution.
Embedded Systems Security: Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Attack Taxonomy
—Embedded systems are the driving force for technological development in many domains such as automotive, healthcare, and industrial control in the emerging post-PC era. As more and more computational and networked devices are integrated into all aspects of our lives in a pervasive and " invisible " way, security becomes critical for the dependability of all smart or intelligent systems built upon these embedded systems. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review of the existing threats and vulnerabilities in embedded systems based on public available data. Moreover, based on the information, we derive an attack taxonomy for embedded systems. We envision that the findings in this paper provide a valuable insight of the threat landscape facing embedded systems. The knowledge can be used for a better understanding and the identification of security risks in system analysis and design.