Section: Research Program

Internet of Things Security

Existing Internet threats might steal our digital information. Tomorrow's threats could disrupt power plants, home security systems, hospitals. The Internet of Things is bridging our digital security with personal safety. Popular magazines are full of stories of hacked devices (e.g. drone attack on Philips Hue), IoT botnets (e.g. Mirai), and inherent insecurity.

Why has the IoT industry failed to adopt the available computer security techniques and best practices? Our experience from research, industry collaborations, and the standards bodies has shown that the main challenges are:

1. The circumvention of the available technical solutions due to their inefficiency.

2. The lack of a user interface for configuring the product in the field resulting in default parameters being (re)used.

3. Poorly tested software, often lacking secure software upgrade mechanisms.

Our research goal is to contribute to a more secure IoT, by proposing technical solutions to these challenges for low-end IoT devices with immediate industrial applicability and transfer potential. We complement the existing techniques with the missing pieces to move towards truly usable and secure IoT systems.