IoT for Defense and National Security

Section 3Introduction: Security, Resiliency, and Technology for Adversarial Environments

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, platforms and networks deployed for critical national infrastructure or military applications face unique security challenges compared to commercial IoT devices or to traditional computing systems. Key challenges here include the scale of the network, the severe resource constraints under which IoT [and in particular, Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT)] devices must operate. These constraints include limited computing power, CPU capacity, memory, and battery power. Further, these devices must operate in an adversarial environment and cope with denied/disrupted, intermittent and limited (bandwidth) communication environments. Thus, the traditional notions of host vs. network‐based defenses need to be re‐examined. Vulnerabilities emerge from heterogeneity – in devices, network protocols, computing architectures, and operating systems. Connecting things is critical to making them smarter and resilient to the loss of a fraction of the nodes; indeed, any single node or sensor will have only a limited view of the operating conditions and hostile forces, limited by its modality and sensing power. Inter‐connectivity and interactivity make the IoBT/IoT smarter (and an IoT/IoBT without a network is just a bunch of isolated dumb things), but also significantly increase the attack surface. Indeed, the hyper‐connectivity in IoT/IoBT obviously increases opportunities ...