Building Superior Embedded Systems
A standard for rating the severity of security vulnerabilities in software systems. The goal is to produce a numeric score reflecting severity, allowing organizations to properly assess and prioritize vulnerabilities.
User mode is a restricted processing mode that enforces limited privileges (e.g., restricted access to system resources).
A side-channel attack involves exploiting information leaked during the execution of a computer program/system. Side-channel attacks take advantage of unintended side effects in normal operations that can reveal sensitive information (often cryptographic keys or higher access privileges). Common side-channel attack vectors include power consumption, EM radiation, timing variations, acoustic signals (e.g., keystrokes), temperature, and processor caches.
3 November 2023 by Phillip Johnston • Last updated 29 November 2023Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is an alternative to prime-number based cryptographic algorithms like RSA. ECC is especially interesting to embedded developers due to its efficiency gains. ECC provides higher security with shorter key lengths (a 256-bit ECC key is roughly equivalent to a 3072-bit RSA key in terms of security) It requires less computational power and memory Elliptic curves are applicable for key agreement, digital signatures, and pseudo-random generators. ECC is more often used for signature generation than full-on encryption, but it can be used for such purposes by …
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A supply chain attack is when an attacker targets a company’s software supply chain to exploit a target system. This involves compromising software dependencies, vendors, or third-party services.
Provisioning, in the context of an electronic device, refers to the process of configuring a device for use. For most devices, provisioning occurs at the factory, setting up the device with details such as serial numbers, MAC addresses, security keys, and calibration data. Many devices also require a secondary provisioning step that occurs when a customer sets up a device.
ECDSA stands for Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. This algorithm is commonly used to create and authenticate digital signatures.
The “Root of Trust” (RoT) is the fundamental security component in the system that is used as the foundation for a Secure Boot process.
“Secure boot” generally refers to the process of ensuring that only firmware approved by trusted parties can run on a system.
Key rotation refers to the process of changing encryption keys used to protect or sign data.