Secure and trusted application execution on embedded devices

Abstract

Embedded devices have permeated into our daily lives and significant day-to-day mundane tasks involve a number of embedded systems. These include smart cards, sensors in vehicles and industrial automation systems. Satisfying the requirements for trusted, reliable and secure embedded devices is more vital than ever before. This urgency is also strengthened further by the potential advent of the Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems. As our reliance on these devices is increasing, the significance of potential threats should not be underestimated, especially as a number of embedded devices are built to operate in malicious environments, where they might be in the possession of an attacker. The challenge to build secure and trusted embedded devices is paramount. In this paper, we examine the security threats to embedded devices along with the associated prevention mechanisms. We also present a holistic approach to the security and trust of embedded devices, from the hardware design, reliability and trust of the runtime environment to the integrity and trustworthiness of the executing applications. The proposed protection mechanisms provide a high degree of security at a minimal computational cost. Such an agnostic view on the security and trust of the embedded devices can be pivotal in their adoption and trust acquisition from the general public and service providers.