As we come to the end of 2018; RIoT Secure opens a new chapter (and technology)!
2018 has been an interesting year; we have seen security exploits continue to pop up all over the place - yet it has been a relative quiet year for those seeking to invest within IoT (ref: IoT Investments 2018) investors citing that it is difficult to find attractive startups; mainly in the realm of showing recurring revenue streams specifically in regards to scalable software - a valid point for sure.
We are taking the shackles of secrecy from two technology stacks in our portfolio we consider to be potential game changers in IoT - RIoT Brawl (IoT Virtual Machine) and RIoT Shield (Realtime Protection) - combined they change the manner in which the industry can be thinking about IoT deployments.
RIoT BRAWL - Lightweight IoT Virtual Machine and Developer Sandbox
Brawl is an on-device application runtime environment that provides a lightweight virtual machine and developer sandbox for developers to write business logic and applications for IoT. Specifically designed for IoT; the virtual machine is capable of providing near native performance using native bindings even on resource constrained micro-controllers - drastically reducing the size of firmware binaries.
Depending on the target CPU; a basic application like the one shown could range in size between a relatively small 930 bytes (avr 8-bit), all the way up to 48,732 bytes (intel currie, 32-bit). This seems like an excessive amount of CPU opcodes to do something so simple, acknowledging all applications come with a little baggage. Compiled in Brawl; the firmware would be 20 bytes - regardless of the CPU target.
Brawl has been designed specifically for IoT; providing any functionality that can be done natively. The virtual machine provides a basic arithmetic logic unit with bindings to GPIO, I2C, SPI, 1-Wire by default, but also provides a secure sandbox to prevent unwanted activities from being performed. It is also-expandable to provide native bindings to execute complex tasks without a performance hit.
As IoT has matured; so is the use of narrow band networking technology (LoRa, Sigfox and NB-IoT) - all of which have restricted up-link and down-link bandwidths, however provide excellent range. The concept of FOTA (firmware over the air) over such networks is simply considered unfeasible; devices have to rely on a backup networks (3G/LTE) or technology stacks (BLE) to provide firmware updates.
But what if a firmware was only a few hundred bytes?
Almost twenty years ago; the desktop and server landscape saw a revolution which shook the foundations of development with the introduction of Java and .NET to launch the device agnostic programming paradigm; while also offering a developer sandbox to execute applications within. RIoT Brawl not only offers the same principles but it also makes FOTA over narrow band networks feasible.
RIoT SHIELD - Realtime Encrypted IoT Firmware and Data Protection
When targetting a specific CPU on an IoT device; the business logic and application are compiled into well known and common CPU opcodes (such as avr, ARM or MIPS) - which when executed on the device perform specific operations. Extracting the information from memory chips is not difficult; and in doing so the contents can be easily reverse engineered using any number of developer tools.
Shield was created to be a security extension of the Brawl IoT virtual machine and developer sandbox; the business logic and application for the Internet of Things can get the same level of protection provided by intrusive and expensive hardware solutions right within the IoT ecosystem.
Each IoT device in the ecosystem will have its firmware delivered encrypted (unique amongst all devices) - preventing a third party from being able to intercept, modify or steal intellectual property as it is delivered. An additional security layer at runtime ensures the IoT firmware and memory banks run through an encryption suite to protect them third party spying and modification in real time.
For more information on licensing and availability of our products and how they can assist you - please contact our business development team at enquiries@riotsecure.se with information on your IoT project and requirements, so we can assist you with your enquiries.
RIoT Fusion Arduino Shield
