Hardware Systems Commons^™

Bonsai Merkle Tree Streams: Bulk Memory Verification Unit For Trusted Program Verification System, Richard J. Rios

Master's Theses

Today, all modern computing systems are undoubtedly vulnerable to numerous types of attacks that could be targeted toward any layer of the system from dedicated hardware to highly abstracted software. Unfortunately, many devices and systems naturally contain inadequately protected components or software modules that un- dermine their security as a whole. Additionally, security is heavily variable system to system, and has a huge dependence on adequate implementation and ongoing support from device and software manufacturers. To address these various security issues in a very general way, TrustGuard, a containment security system utilizing an external device called the Sentry that would …

Injecting Control Commands Through Sensory Channel: Attack And Defense, Farhad Rasapour

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control System (ICS) is responsible for controlling and managing critical infrastructures like nuclear plants and power plants. ICS is equipped with various devices like communication media, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), actuators, and sensors. Sensors are used to measure a physical phenomenon and send these measurements through the sensory channel to the control devices so they can make decisions on the movements of the actuators in the systems. While tampering with the sensor measurements has been the focus of many studies, there is some research that has concentrated on misusing a sensor and sensory channel as an axillary attack device …

Securing Soft Ips Against Hardware Trojan Insertion, Thao Phuong Le

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the increasing complexity of hardware designs, third-party hardware Intellectual Property (IP) blocks are often incorporated in order to alleviate the burden on hardware designers. However, the prevalence use of third-party IPs has raised security concerns such as Trojans inserted by attackers. Hardware Trojans in these soft IPs are extremely difficult to detect through functional testing and no single detection methodology has been able to completely address this issue. Based on a Register-Transfer Level (RTL) and gate-level soft IP analysis method named Structural Checking, this dissertation presents a hardware Trojan detection methodology and tool by detailing the implementation of …

Improving The Security Of Wireless Sensor Networks, Mauricio Tellez Nava

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

With the rapid technological advancements of sensors, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become the main technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). We investigated the security of WSNs in an environmental monitoring system with the goal to improve the overall security. We implemented a Secure Temperature Monitoring System (STMS), which served as our investigational environment. Our results revealed a security flaw found in the bootstrap loader (BSL) password used to protect firmware in the MSP430 MCU chips. We demonstrated how the BSL password could be brute forced in a matter of days. Furthermore, we illustrate how an attacker can reverse …

Remote Mobile Screen (Rms): An Approach For Secure Byod Environments, Santiago Manuel Gimenez Ocano

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a policy where employees use their own personal mobile devices to perform work-related tasks. Enterprises reduce their costs since they do not have to purchase and provide support for the mobile devices. BYOD increases job satisfaction and productivity in the employees, as they can choose which device to use and do not need to carry two or more devices.

However, BYOD policies create an insecure environment, as the corporate network is extended and it becomes harder to protect it from attacks. In this scenario, the corporate information can be leaked, personal and corporate spaces …