The CIA Triad
The CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability) is becoming essential in almost every case to protect the assets of connected embedded systems.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality measures aim to protect the data being exchanged and processed in the system, preventing it from falling into the hands of unauthorized individuals. Encryption, a state-of-the-art security measure, is employed for this purpose and can be implemented through standards and protocols such as SecOc, MACsec, IPsec, and TLS/SSL.
Integrity
Confidentiality alone is insufficient for comprehensive security. Even with encryption, data can still be tampered with by an unauthorized person, such as an attacker. Integrity policies are implemented to protect data from unauthorized tampering, ensuring it is neither modified nor deleted. Utilizing a message authentication code (MAC) fulfills the integrity security measure.
Availability
Availability of a system implies that the data within that system is accessible to authorized nodes. This feature is crucial, especially for safety-related functions such as the braking system in automotive use cases or emergency shutdown in industrial scenarios. Ensuring data availability requires the system to be resilient against denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks) and distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks).
Authenticity
In addition to the main three security measures, i.e., the CIA triad, authenticity is crucial to ensure that the embedded system is indeed what it claims to be. Authentication measures are essential in preventing Man-in-the-Middle attacks. As mentioned earlier, the message authentication code (MAC) not only ensures data integrity but also provides the authenticity security feature. Furthermore, the use of data signatures can be employed to enhance the authenticity security feature.
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