Embedded Systems in the Year 2015

Let’s face it - for a long time, embedded systems were not that cool. A big business, but it did not have the glamour associated with PCs and then mobile devices.

With the Internet of Things, suddenly things have changed. Everyone is talking about sensors, data, connected devices and stuff that computes all the time, everywhere and anywhere. Forget that stereotype of the clunky industrial systems - the IoT means wearables, connected cars, toothbrushes with apps and forks that tell you how much to eat - or not to eat.

Predictably, this headlong rush into the wild west of “design first, worry later” has led to a great due of concern about security. Recent data breaches and reports of vulnerabilities and attacks of medical devices, such as the drug infusion pumps as reported this month (http://www.wired.com/2015/06/hackers-can-send-fatal-doses-hospital-drug-pumps/) mean that security is not just about credit card data. It’s about ensuring devices are trustworthy. And that not only info, but their operation, can be trusted.

TCG has been working with its members and the broader computing industry to apply proven concepts of trust to the IoT, whether devices or networks. Today, many devices connected and considered as part of the IoT, such as printers, can be protected with standards-based storage devices that keep data from leaking. Other IoT legacy systems, such as SCADA or other networks, can be secured using a standards-based overlay network concept developed by TCG with industry input. And, the heart of many devices and systems contains the TPM. In the future, very thin clients might need a different trust approach, and TCG is looking at that, too.

For more information on our work to secure the IoT, see our new guidance document:http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/resources/tcg_guidance_for_securing_iot

For information on securing industrial control systems (ICS), see our architect’s guide:http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/resources/architects_guide_ics_security_using_tnc_technology

And join us in July at ESC 2015 for demos and a talk on how to secure the IoT and the role of trust. More here: http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/media_room/events/191