Smart devices including mobile terminals, wearables and all kinds of sensors, smart nodes and platforms with connectivity and critical information processing capabilities are fast growing into billions of pieces. These billions of smart devices have at least one external connectivity interface which potentially becomes the entry point for attackers to bring down the entire system. Smart home is one such example of a connected system with intelligence. To prevent attacks, a robust, market proven and certifiable hardware security solution becomes a key ingredient of such systems that communicate and process critical or sensitive information. In this article, we will look into the various security threats in connected smart home devices and discuss the necessary security measures that should be utilized, in particular leveraging on the values of hardware trust anchors. We will also present specific use cases on Smart home environment as a good reference for the audience to gain a better understanding.
Introduction:
With the fast growth of IoT applications, our home network environment has been changed dramatically in recent years. A typical home network setup 5 years ago consists of a wireless/wired router with ADSL/cable connection to the internet, and the devices are connected to the router are mainly desktop computers, laptops and smartphones. These devices have one commonality, which is that they are operated by human beings, and they are not powered up 24/7 in many cases except the smartphone.