Atlas: Application Confidentiality in Compromised Embedded Systems

Maene P, Götzfried J, Müller T, de Clercq R, Freiling F, Verbauwhede I (2018)

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

DOI: 10.1109/TDSC.2018.2858257

Abstract

Due to the requirements of the Internet-of-Things, modern embedded systems have become increasingly complex, running different applications. In order to protect their intellectual property as well as the confidentiality of sensitive data they process, these applications have to be isolated from each other. Traditional memory protection and memory management units provide such isolation, but rely on operating system support for their configuration. However, modern operating systems tend to be vulnerable and cannot guarantee confidentiality when compromised. We present Atlas, a hardware-based security architecture, complementary to traditional memory protection mechanisms, ensuring code and data confidentiality through transparent encryption, even when the system software has been exploited. Atlas relies on its zero-software trusted computing base to protect against system-level attackers and also supports secure shared memory. We implemented Atlas based on the LEON3 softcore processor, including toolchain extensions for developers. Our FPGA-based evaluation shows minimal cycle overhead at the cost of a reduced maximum frequency.

Authors with CRIS profile

Johannes Götzfried Lehrstuhl für Informatik 1 (IT-Sicherheitsinfrastrukturen) Tilo Müller Lehrstuhl für Informatik 1 (IT-Sicherheitsinfrastrukturen) Felix Freiling Lehrstuhl für Informatik 1 (IT-Sicherheitsinfrastrukturen)

Involved external institutions

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) / Catholic University of Leuven

Belgium (BE)

How to cite

APA:

Maene, P., Götzfried, J., Müller, T., de Clercq, R., Freiling, F., & Verbauwhede, I. (2018). Atlas: Application Confidentiality in Compromised Embedded Systems. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TDSC.2018.2858257

MLA:

Maene, Pieter, et al. "Atlas: Application Confidentiality in Compromised Embedded Systems." IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (2018).

BibTeX: Download