From Prey to Hunter: Transforming Legacy Embedded Devices into Exploitation Sensor Grids

Our global communication infrastructures are powered by large numbers of legacy embedded devices. Recent advances in offensive technologies targeting embedded systems have shown that the stealthy exploitation of high-value embedded devices such as router and firewalls is indeed feasible. However, little to no host-based defensive technology is available to monitor and protect these devices, leaving large numbers of critical devices defenseless against exploitation. We devised a method of augmenting legacy embedded devices, like Cisco routers, with host-based defenses in order to create a stealthy, embedded sensor-grid capable of monitoring and capturing real-world attacks against the devices which constitute the bulk of the Internet substrate. Using a software mechanism which we call the Symbiote, a white-list based code modification detector is automatically injected in situ into Cisco IOS, producing a fully functional router firmware capable of detecting and capturing successful attacks against itself for analysis. Using the Symbiote-protected router as the main component, we designed a sensor system which requires no modification to existing hardware, fully preserves the functionality of the original firmware, and detects unauthorized modification of memory within 450 ms. We believe that it is feasible to use the techniques described in this paper to inject monitoring and defensive capability into existing routers to create an early attack warning system to protect the Internet substrate

Side-channel based intrusion detection for industrial control systems

Industrial Control Systems are under increased scrutiny. Their security is historically sub-par, and although measures are being taken by the manufacturers to remedy this, the large installed base of legacy systems cannot easily be updated with state-of-the-art security measures. We propose a system that uses electromagnetic side-channel measurements to detect behavioural changes of the software running on industrial control systems. To demonstrate the feasibility of this method, we show it is possible to profile and distinguish between even small changes in programs on Siemens S7-317 PLCs, using methods from cryptographic side-channel analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. For associated code, see https://polvanaubel.com/research/em-ics/code

The SPARCHS Project: Hardware Support for Software Security

The SPARCHS project is considering a new computer systems design methodology that considers security as a first-order design requirement at all levels, starting from hardware, in addition to the usual design requirements such as programmability, usability, speed, and power/energy- efficiency. The rest of the paper describes the proposed hardware security mechanisms and the current status of the project

Ghost in the PLC vs GhostBuster:on the feasibility of detecting pin control attack in Programmable Logic Controllers

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are a family of embedded devices used for physical process control. Similar to other embedded devices, PLCs are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Because they are used to control the physical processes of critical infrastructures, compromised PLCs constitute a significant security and safety risk. Previously we introduced specific attack against PLCs which can stealthily manipulate the physical process it controls by tampering with the device I/O at a low level. We implemented different variants of the attack in the form of a rootkit and a user-space malicious code over a candidate PLC. We then move forward with a tailored defense which specifically detect modification of PLCs I/O to detect our attack

Embedded System Security: A Software-based Approach

We present a body of work aimed at understanding and improving the security posture of embedded devices. We present results from several large-scale studies that measured the quantity and distribution of exploitable vulnerabilities within embedded devices in the world. We propose two host-based software defense techniques, Symbiote and Autotomic Binary Structure Randomization, that can be practically deployed to a wide spectrum of embedded devices in use today. These defenses are designed to overcome major challenges of securing legacy embedded devices. To be specific, our proposed algorithms are software- based solutions that operate at the firmware binary level. They do not require source-code, are agnostic to the operating-system environment of the devices they protect, and can work on all major ISAs like MIPS, ARM, PowerPC and X86. More importantly, our proposed defenses are capable of augmenting the functionality of embedded devices with a plethora of host-based defenses like dynamic firmware integrity attestation, binary structure randomization of code and data, and anomaly-based malcode detection. Furthermore, we demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the proposed defenses by applying them to a wide range of real- time embedded devices like enterprise networking equipment, telecommunication appliances and other commercial devices like network-based printers and IP phones. Lastly, we present a survey of promising directions for future research in the area of embedded security

Security of Ubiquitous Computing Systems

The chapters in this open access book arise out of the EU Cost Action project Cryptacus, the objective of which was to improve and adapt existent cryptanalysis methodologies and tools to the ubiquitous computing framework. The cryptanalysis implemented lies along four axes: cryptographic models, cryptanalysis of building blocks, hardware and software security engineering, and security assessment of real-world systems. The authors are top-class researchers in security and cryptography, and the contributions are of value to researchers and practitioners in these domains. This book is open access under a CC BY license

Reticulate Evolution: Symbiogenesis, Lateral Gene Transfer, Hybridization and Infectious heredity

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio