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Cross-platform Open Security Stack for Connected Devices

Project description

Independent IoT security stack for different devices

Developers of the Internet of Things (IoT) face a fragmented landscape consisting of very different devices. These range from bare metal devices to those equipped with powerful support for AI and with built-in hardware (HW) to implement Root of Trust (RoT) and Trusted Execution Environments (TEE). Their coexistence guarantees an acceptable level of security across the whole system but avoiding attacks remains an open challenge. The existence of many HW platforms prevents, or makes very difficult, interoperation of applications and security services. The EU-funded CROSSCON project will design an open, flexible, highly portable and vendor-independent IoT security stack that can run across different edge devices and multiple HW platforms.

Objective

IoT developers face a very fragmented landscape made of very different devices, from bare metal devices with few KB of RAM and limited or no security protection to devices equipped with powerful support for AI and with built-in hardware (HW) to implement Root of Trust (RoT) and Trusted Execution Environments (TEE). Such different devices coexist, and it is an open challenge to guarantee an acceptable level of security across the whole system to avoid “easy” entry points for attackers. The complexity is further exacerbated by the existence of many HW platforms, general purpose but also domain specific, each implementing proprietary instances of RoT and TEE that prevent or make it very difficult for applications and security services to interoperate. CROSSCON aims at addressing all these issues by designing a new open, flexible, highly portable and vendor independent IoT security stack that can run across a variety of different edge devices and multiple HW platforms to offer a consistent security baseline across an entire IoT system. A high-level assurance is guaranteed by the formal verification of the stack specifications. CROSSCON stack offers a unified set of trusted APIs to the layers above. It is modular and among all the security features it offers is possible to configure only the ones needed depending on the underlined HW and firmware. It leverages the security features already implemented in the layers below. In case such security features are missing, like in bare metal devices, the stack offers an entire TEE implementation suitable for such devices. As devices are getting more powerful and use cases more complex, there is the need to add new trusted services as building blocks to implement security at the higher levels, such as protection of the models given in input to ML engines embedded in HW or support for biometrics and template protections. CROSSCON provides the open specifications of the stack along with an open-source reference implementation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL3-2021-CS-01

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Coordinator

ATOS IT SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES IBERIA SL
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 405 500,00
Address
ALBARRACIN 25
28037 MADRID
Spain

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Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 519 250,00

Participants (9)

Partners (1)

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