The Internet of Beasty Things: Challenges in Embedded Systems

Information and communications systems are becoming highly complex and pervasive, increasingly generating, storing and processing sensitive information. In this context embedded systems play a central role. They can be found everywhere, in sensors, wearables, smartphones and tablets, medical devices, vehicles, and critical infrastructures. Moreover, recent industrial trends and initiatives aim to “connect the unconnected”: from the Internet of Things to the Industrial Internet. Since embedded systems are deployed in many critical settings, their security, privacy and safety aspects are of utmost concern. We discuss the arms race between attacks and defenses as well as security and privacy challenges for embedded and mobile systems, in particular in the context of the “Internet of Everything”.