The growing threat of cyber infrastructure intrusions from hostile actors is leading to the creation of new security testing mechanisms for Internet of Things (IoT) software and hardware. This will allow embedded system developers to comply with new guidelines issued by the White House amid recent high-profile cyberattacks.
On the software side, a new application security test mathematically guarantees bug-free code in embedded designs. The automated source code analysis technique launched by cybersecurity software company TrustInSoft uses formal methods to speed up the testing process by producing a mathematical twin of the C / C ++ source code and thus justifies the absence of source code bugs. for any entry (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Analyzer automates formal methods to provide a synthetic view of source code bugs. Source: TrustInSoft
Traditional static and dynamic analysis methods slow down the deployment of the IoT design because the tests are replicated for each process. The new embedded IoT test, based on TrustInSoft’s Analyzer tool, uses formal methods to provide the equivalent of static and dynamic analysis of C / C ++ source code and thus ensure the absence of undefined source code behaviors.
TrustInSoft claims the new test tool cuts IoT device deployment time up to 40 times and code verification time up to 4 times. According to Fabrice Derepas, Founder and CEO of TrustInSoft, a bug discovered after a product is released can cost up to 640 times more than when it was discovered during the development phase. “Life is never error free, but your source code can be.”
On the hardware side, Arm offers an IoT test chip and development board that allows developers to evaluate security credentials in their embedded designs (Figure 2). Arm launched the Musca-S1 IoT test chip and development board in collaboration with Samsung Foundry, Cadence, and IC design services company Sondrel.
Figure 2 The Musca-S1 Embedded Security Testing Platform provides more choices for IoT chip designers. Source: arm
The IoT test solution is based on an integrated 28nm Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (eMRAM) chip of Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator (FD-SOI). It offers advantages over traditional integrated flash memory (eFlash) technology to scale below 40nm process technology.
The above hardware and software testing solutions allow IoT developers to prototype their designs for end-to-end security and quickly bring IoT devices to market while adhering to essential cybersecurity guidelines.
Majeed Ahmad, editor-in-chief of EDN and Planet Analog, has covered the electronics design industry for more than two decades.
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