Ph.D. dissertation of Dorottya Futóné Papp

Improved security and protection from malware for embedded IoT devices

Ph.D. dissertation of Dorottya Futóné Papp
Supervisor: Levente Buttyán

Abstract
The field of embedded devices is changing rapidly. While these devices have originally been developed to perform specific tasks, they are now increasingly connected to the Internet, leading to the Internet of Things (IoT). Consequently, embedded devices are increasingly called embedded IoT devices. Internet connectivity enables new and innovative application areas, however, it is a new attack surface which need protection. In this dissertation, we study the threat landscape of embedded IoT devices and proposed a new attack taxonomy to systematically identify and classify common attacks. We draw two conclusions from this study, namely, that malware is a significant threat in the case of embedded IoT devices and that the vulnerabilities of these devices form a diverse set. These conclusions motivate the following research.

We study the possibility of clustering malware based on their binary similarity in order to reduce the workload of analysts.
We also investigate a type of stealthy malware, which exhibits malicious behavior only when it receives specific inputs from its environment. Such malware samples are especially challenging to analyze because the analyst has no knowledge about the necessary inputs.
Given the wide set of vulnerabilities in embedded IoT devices, we propose a new mode of operation, called RoViM, which allows devices to periodically cleanse themselves, restoring a compromise-free state.

Dissertation, Theses booklet (EN), Theses booklet (HU)

Defense Commitee:: Chair: András Pataricza (BME-MIT); Secretary: Imre Kocsis (BME-MIT); Members: György Terdik (University of Debrecen) and Pál Varga (BME-TMIT); Reviewers: Ákos Kiss (University of Szeged) and István Majzik (BME-MIT)

Date: Oct 28, 2021 8.45 AM
Official invitation: please click here
Link to join online (in MS Teams): https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YmZjNGJmZmEtNWY0MC00NTEzLWFkZTYtZDNmZjQ2MGViMjVk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226a3548ab-7570-4271-91a8-58da00697029%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2201ead5d1-166e-493d-89d8-dbaf30584173%22%7d