DesignCon 2022 Schedule Builder

The IoT is made up of many different manufactures from consumer electronics to remote sensors, and from industrial control systems to medical robots and even self-driving cars. Since these devices are so pervasive and so connected, they are a clear target for exploitation. So if one node can be compromised, then there are potentially hundreds even thousands of nodes that can be compromised as well. The harm done can range from causing the unit to no longer function, to potentially injuring an operator, passenger or consumer – and these can result in a tarnished brand. So how can you prevent exploitation?

We will address some of the fundamental layers of security that you can deploy to ensure a robust product lifecycle and minimize the risk of being hacked. Starting with establishing a hardware root of trust, you can provision keys securely within the system. This enables you to perform secure over-the-air system upgrades for both new software loads as well as provisioning and decommissioning security keys. Then you can focus on securing the software supply chain by establishing exactly what is in your IoT devices. We will look at techniques to ensure the system is tamper-proof, including: only granting access to applications that truly need access, locking down the filesystem, controlling both temporal and spatial aspects of the embedded system, and monitoring to ensure run-time integrity.