Embedded Systems Security  

The evolution of computing and information is steadily migrating beyond centralized enterprise information systems and desktops and out to increasingly sophisticated embedded devices in the field, creating opportunities for equipment manufacturers to offer additional services and other value-added technologies. Within the Department of Defense, opportunities exist for better use of limited communications channels by leveraging the computational power now resident in many existing and emerging network-enabled weaponry, sensors, and situational awareness support systems.

However, as information is pushed to the edge of the extended network, opportunities also exist for:

• devices to be compromised,
• intellectual property to be stolen, and
• information to be exploited and/or altered.

Therefore, implementing security in embedded systems and providing secure communications paths back into the enterprise are paramount.

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) engineers have the multidisciplinary experience to bring together the disparate worlds of security and embedded systems. The SwRI Communications and Embedded Systems Department staff has expertise in embedded hardware and software development, radio and network communications, and cyber security.

Sample Technologies

SwRI engineers have expertise in numerous technologies relevant to embedded systems security, including:

• SSL/TLS
• DES, RSA, and elliptic curve cryptography
• Trusted platform modules
• Mutual authentication
• Embedded PKI
• Information integrity
• Non-repudiation of information changes
• Role-based access control
• Digital rights management

Prototyping and implementation of embedded security features involve the integration of real-time operating systems, protocol stacks, and cryptographic algorithms within resource-limited hardware platforms. SwRI engineers use state-of-the-art test equipment, software tools, and laboratory facilities to evaluate the capabilities, benefits, performance, and costs associated with alternative embedded system implementation.

Services Provided

SwRI techniques for implementing embedded security include:

• System definition
  • Operational concept
  • Requirements analysis
• Device vulnerability assessments
• Comprehensive security design
  • Embedded
  • Communications
  • Enterprise
• Security technology selection and trade space analysis
  • Standards
  • COTS components
  • Open-source software
  • Encryption
  • Public key infrastructure
  • Performance impact of alternative security implementations
  • Computational resource and environmental constraints
• Hardware/software design and development
  • Trusted system development

For additional information about Cyber Security and Information Assurance, please visit www.cybersecurity.swri.org.

This flyer was published in May 2007. For more information about Embedded Systems Security, contact Gary Ragsdale, Staff Engineer, Automation and Data Systems Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-3743, Fax (210) 522-5499.

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