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Secure Software Updates: Challenges and Solutions for Embedded IoT Systems

  • The invention of the internet made the development of intelligent networking of millions of embedded systems possible. This enabled smart buildings, power grids and cities as well as applications in the fields of health, agriculture and industry. These systems frequently perform safety-critical applications and operations. This makes it urgent to protect these sensible systems as effectively as possible. Especially firmware updates are often the weak point in the systems. If unauthorised persons gain access to the system during the update, malware can be injected or sensitive data can be read and stolen. This paper describes the challenges of secure firmware updates. To protect an embedded system from potential attackers, the concepts integrity, authenticity and confidentiality have to be adhered during the update process. Otherwise, there is an increased risk of modifying or reverse engineering the firmware image. Likewise, inadequately protected software can enable the installation of third-party firmware as well as the installation of firmware on a third-party system. Threat prevention is presented with solutions derived from functional safety and IT security. Aspects of protection against errors in the transmission of updates and against attacks aiming to compromise the system are explained. Finally, a possible sequence of a secure update process is examined in detail for a real embedded system implementation. For this purpose, the preparation, transmission and installation of a firmware update in the bootloader are discussed

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Metadaten
Author:Florian Herbold, Andrea ReindlORCiD, Hans MeierORCiD, Michael NiemetzORCiDGND, Stefan Krämer
URL / DOI:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354995594_Secure_Software_Updates_Challenges_and_Solutions_for_Embedded_IoT_Systems
ISBN:978-80-01-06858-8
Parent Title (English):Proceedings of the 9th Embedded Systems Workshop: July 1-3, 2021 Horomerice, Czech Republic
Editor:Hana Kubátová, Petr Fišer, Jaroslav Borecký
Document Type:conference proceeding (article)
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2021
Release Date:2022/03/15
Tag:Bootloader; Cryptograph; Embedded systems; Firmware Update; IoT; Safety, Security; Software Protection
First Page:5
Last Page:13
Institutes:Fakultät Elektro- und Informationstechnik
Fakultät Elektro- und Informationstechnik / Labor Datenkommunikation
Fakultät Elektro- und Informationstechnik / Labor Industrielle Elektronik
research focus:Digitalisierung
Licence (German):Keine Lizenz - Es gilt das deutsche Urheberrecht: § 53 UrhG