Security must remain effective throughout a product's entire lifetime

June 28, 2018

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Security must remain effective throughout a product's entire lifetime

The Timesys TRST technology reduces the attack surface of an embedded system.

Security, security, security. My in-box is filled with releases, updates, and new info about the latest in security for embedded systems. Is this information critical to our new designs, and our future in general? You bet it is, and it’s far more significant if you’re designing for an industrial or mission-critical application.

Where it’s most critical is in the development of a system that’s going to be out on the Internet. That opens your system to hackers from all angles. And with the advent of the IoT, it’s nearly impossible to track the number of systems, nodes, devices, and so on.

With designers are under intense pressure to get products out the door as quickly as possible, it becomes difficult at best to properly vet the latest security products and protocols. Add to that the complexity of many of today’s designs and you have a recipe for disaster. Note that such a disaster can occur in any point after a product is released to the market, even years later.

The bottom line is you had better take your security precautions seriously.

To that end, Timesys has released a solution that targets device developers using embedded Linux and other open-source software. The goal of this solution is to maintain security throughout the product lifecycle. Called Threat Resistance Security Technology (TRST) protection, it enables developers to reduce the attack surface of their products, harden devices, and maintain security at IoT scale.

The Timesys technology was endorsed by GE Healthcare, which says a lot. According to Roshy Francis, CTO of Diagnostic Cardiology, “We chose to partner with Timesys in the development of our new portfolio of medical devices to ensure that they stay secure throughout their lifecycle. Our customers globally face strict information security requirements combined with a heightened threat environment when deploying these devices within their enterprise. Our secure design methodology, partnership with Timesys, and operational policies allow our customers to be confident in choosing and deploying these devices in their healthcare practice.”

Timesys claims that its technology instills CIA, aka confidentiality, integrity, and availability, which are the hallmarks of the best security best practices across the end-to-end product lifecycle. That involves the “cradle to grave” timeline.

TRST eliminates the need for device developers to sift through thousands of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) notifications every year, to determine which ones apply to their devices in production and require patching to mitigate.

Security: don’t leave home without it.

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Security