Publications

Abstract

In recent years, a new generation of the Internet of Things (IoT 2.0) is emerging, based on artificial intelligence, the blockchain technology, machine learning, and the constant consolidation of pre-existing systems and subsystems into larger systems. In this work, we construct and examine a proof-of-concept prototype of such a system of systems, which consists of heterogeneous commercial off-the-shelf components, and utilises diverse communication protocols. We recognise the inherent need for lightweight security in this context, and address it by employing a low-cost state-of-the-art security solution. Our solution is based on a novel hardware and software co-engineering paradigm, utilising well-known software-based cryptographic algorithms, in order to maximise the security potential of the hardware security primitive (a Physical Unclonable Function) that is used as a security anchor. The performance of the proposed security solution is evaluated, proving its suitability even for real-time applications. Additionally, the Dolev-Yao attacker model is considered in order to assess the resilience of our solution towards attacks against the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the examined system of systems. In this way, it is confirmed that the proposed solution is able to address the emerging security challenges of the oncoming era of systems of systems.

Abstract

This work concerns the demonstration of a security solution for a network of networks, which comprises heterogeneous devices and utilises diverse communication protocols. The security solution used in this work employs an architecture presented in a previous work, which is based upon the concept of hardware and software security co-engineering.

Abstract

Smart factories, critical infrastructures, and medical devices largely rely on embedded systems that need to satisfy realtime constraints to complete crucial tasks. Recent studies and reports have revealed that many of these devices suffer from crucial vulnerabilities that can be exploited with fatal consequences. Despite the security and safety-critical role of these devices, they often do not feature state-of-the-art security mechanisms. Moreover, since realtime systems have strict timing requirements, integrating new security mechanisms is not a viable option as they often influence the device's runtime behavior. One solution is to offload security enhancements to a remote instance, the so-called remote attestation.We present RealSWATT, the first software-based remote attestation system for realtime embedded devices. Remote attestation is a powerful security service that allows a party to verify the correct functionality of an untrusted remote device. In contrast to previous remote attestation approaches for realtime systems, RealSWATT does neither require custom hardware extensions nor trusted computing components. It is designed to work within real-world IoT networks, connected through Wi-Fi. RealSWATT leverages a dedicated processor core for remote attestation and provides the required timing guarantees without hardware extensions. We implement RealSWATT on the popular ESP32 microcontroller, and we evaluate it on a real-world medical device with realtime constraints. To demonstrate its applicability, we furthermore integrate RealSWATT into a framework for off-the-shelf IoT devices and apply it to a smart plug, a smoke detector, and a smart light bulb.

Abstract

Emerging memristive devices offer enormous advantages for applications such as non-volatile memories and in-memory computing (IMC), but there is a rising interest in using memristive technologies for security applications in the era of internet of things (IoT). In this review article, for achieving secure hardware systems in IoT, low-power design techniques based on emerging memristive technology for hardware security primitives/systems are presented. By reviewing the state-of-the-art in three highlighted memristive application areas, i.e. memristive non-volatile memory, memristive reconfigurable logic computing and memristive artificial intelligent computing, their application-level impacts on the novel implementations of secret key generation, crypto functions and machine learning attacks are explored, respectively. For the low-power security applications in IoT, it is essential to understand how to best realize cryptographic circuitry using memristive circuitries, and to assess the implications of memristive crypto implementations on security and to develop novel computing paradigms that will enhance their security. This review article aims to help researchers to explore security solutions, to analyze new possible threats and to develop corresponding protections for the secure hardware systems based on low-cost memristive circuit designs.