10 IoT Cyber Security
479
Information Disclosure One of the most well-known cyber security controls is
confidentiality. Confidentiality protections such as the application of encryption can
prevent information disclosure in traditional Information Technology (IT) systems.
The same is true with IoT systems. Proper placement of cryptographic protections
can ensure that sensitive information is not disclosed to unauthorized parties.
Without proper confidentiality controls in place, there are many methods an attacker
might use to eavesdrop or steal information from a system.
IoT systems introduce a new concept related to information disclosure, however.
It is not simply the risk of application-layer information that must be protected
against. Instead, metadata that could be used to track or surveil the location or usage
patterns of system users must also be protected. Disclosure of this metadata can have
dire consequences. This is why complex IoT systems such as Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) and Connected Vehicles (CV) engineer robust privacy and
anonymity controls into their applications. Within an AMI, for example, system
designers must guard against leakage of usage patterns from the smart meter. Within
Connected Vehicle implementations, system designers must guard against the ability
of someone to track the location of a vehicle or to be able to determine a vehicle
owner based on the vehicle’s identity.
Denial or Degradation of Service IoT systems are beginning to provide safetycritical and health-critical capabilities. These systems must be designed to ensure
that they can withstand the threat of denial or degradation of service. A traditional
distributed denial of service attack coordinates the flooding of networks by thousands of computers. There are ways for attackers to increase the magnitude of the
attack as well. For example, amplification attacks take minimal input to generate
maximum output against a victim machine. Amplification attacks take advantage of
inherent features of well-known protocols. A Network Time Protocol (NTP)-based
amplification attack is a good example.
NTP amplification attacks were enabled by the use of the NTP monlist command.
Monlist returns a list of the last 600 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that access the
NTP server. This enabled a small input to generate a maximum-sized output directed
at a victim server. Now consider these attacks being levied against the cloud services
that support your IoT systems.
We must also include concern for any degradation of service when discussing
life-critical and safety-critical IoT systems. Many IoT systems require near realtime processing capability and any reduction in that ability can have severe
consequences. For example, researchers [5] have shown that it is possible to blind
cameras on AVs for an infinite amount of time using lasers. This reduces an AV’s
ability to use those cameras for the functions of lane detection, object detection, and
even traffic sign identification.
Bypassing Physical Security A relatively unique threat to IoT systems is the
ability of attackers to gain physical access to IoT devices in order to evaluate their
security posture and perform reverse engineering. In some cases, devices can simply
be bought online and analyzed in the comfort of an attackers’ lab. In other cases,
479
Information Disclosure One of the most well-known cyber security controls is
confidentiality. Confidentiality protections such as the application of encryption can
prevent information disclosure in traditional Information Technology (IT) systems.
The same is true with IoT systems. Proper placement of cryptographic protections
can ensure that sensitive information is not disclosed to unauthorized parties.
Without proper confidentiality controls in place, there are many methods an attacker
might use to eavesdrop or steal information from a system.
IoT systems introduce a new concept related to information disclosure, however.
It is not simply the risk of application-layer information that must be protected
against. Instead, metadata that could be used to track or surveil the location or usage
patterns of system users must also be protected. Disclosure of this metadata can have
dire consequences. This is why complex IoT systems such as Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) and Connected Vehicles (CV) engineer robust privacy and
anonymity controls into their applications. Within an AMI, for example, system
designers must guard against leakage of usage patterns from the smart meter. Within
Connected Vehicle implementations, system designers must guard against the ability
of someone to track the location of a vehicle or to be able to determine a vehicle
owner based on the vehicle’s identity.
Denial or Degradation of Service IoT systems are beginning to provide safetycritical and health-critical capabilities. These systems must be designed to ensure
that they can withstand the threat of denial or degradation of service. A traditional
distributed denial of service attack coordinates the flooding of networks by thousands of computers. There are ways for attackers to increase the magnitude of the
attack as well. For example, amplification attacks take minimal input to generate
maximum output against a victim machine. Amplification attacks take advantage of
inherent features of well-known protocols. A Network Time Protocol (NTP)-based
amplification attack is a good example.
NTP amplification attacks were enabled by the use of the NTP monlist command.
Monlist returns a list of the last 600 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that access the
NTP server. This enabled a small input to generate a maximum-sized output directed
at a victim server. Now consider these attacks being levied against the cloud services
that support your IoT systems.
We must also include concern for any degradation of service when discussing
life-critical and safety-critical IoT systems. Many IoT systems require near realtime processing capability and any reduction in that ability can have severe
consequences. For example, researchers [5] have shown that it is possible to blind
cameras on AVs for an infinite amount of time using lasers. This reduces an AV’s
ability to use those cameras for the functions of lane detection, object detection, and
even traffic sign identification.
Bypassing Physical Security A relatively unique threat to IoT systems is the
ability of attackers to gain physical access to IoT devices in order to evaluate their
security posture and perform reverse engineering. In some cases, devices can simply
be bought online and analyzed in the comfort of an attackers’ lab. In other cases,