Securing small-business and home internet of things (IoT) devices :

Abstract

The rapid growth of IoT devices has the potential to provide many benefits. It is also a cause for concern because IoT devices are tempting targets for attackers. State-of-the-art security software protects fullfeatured devices, such as laptops and phones, from most known threats, but many IoT devices, such as connected thermostats, security cameras, and lighting control systems, have minimal security or are unprotected. Because they are designed to be inexpensive and limited purpose, IoT devices may have unpatched software flaws. They also often have processing, timing, memory, and power constraints that make them challenging to secure. Users often do not know what IoT devices are on their networks and lack means for controlling access to them over their life cycles.The consequences of not addressing the security of IoT devices can be catastrophic. For instance, in typical networking environments, malicious actors can detect and attack an IoT device within minutes of it connecting to the internet. If it has a known vulnerability, this weakness can be exploited at scale, enabling an attacker to commandeer sets of compromised devices, called botnets, to launch large-scale distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, such as Mirai, as well as other network-based attacks. DDoS attacks can significantly harm an organization, rendering it impossible for the organization's customers to reach it and thereby resulting in revenue loss, potential liability exposure, reputation damage, and eroded customer trust. CHALLENGEBecause IoT devices are designed to be low in cost, with limited functionality using constrained hardware, and for limited purposes, it is not realistic to try to solve the problem of IoT device vulnerability by requiring that all IoT devices be equipped with robust and state-of-the-art security mechanisms. Instead, we are challenged to develop ways to improve IoT device security without requiring costly or complicated improvements to the devices themselves.A second challenge lies in the need to develop security mechanisms that will be effective even though IoT devices will, by their very nature, remain vulnerable to attack, and some will inevitably be compromised. These security mechanisms should protect the rest of the network from any devices that become compromised.Given the widespread use of IoT devices by consumers who may not even be aware that the devices are accessing their network, a third challenge is the practical need for IoT security mechanisms to be easy to use. Ideally, security features should be so transparent that a user need not even be aware of their operation.To address these challenges, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) and its collaborators have demonstrated the practicality and effectiveness of using the Internet Engineering Task Force's Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) standard to reduce both the vulnerability of IoT devices to network-based attacks and the potential for harm from any IoT devices that become compromised.

Methodology for Characterizing Network Behavior of Internet of Things Devices

“…Enforcement of rules generated from the MUD file is outside the scope of this report, but several different approaches are described in the NCCoE preliminary draft Practice Guide, Special Publication 1800-15, Securing Small Business and Home Internet of Things (IoT) Devices: Mitigating Network-Based Attacks Using Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) [7].…”

On the Analysis of MUD-Files' Interactions, Conflicts, and Configuration Requirements Before Deployment

“…At the time of writing this paper, there are four main projects that implement the core of a MUD instantiation: the Cisco MUD-Manager [44], the Open Source MUD Manager [47], the MUD implementation of NIST [32], and CableLabs Micronets [31]. NIST has a special publication that thoroughly describes four different builds of MUD based on the above-mentioned implementations for mitigating network-based attacks [6].…”

“…We have chosen to focus on MUD because, in addition to being an IETF standard, MUD is also a core component of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) security for IoT Initiatives, particularly the thrust focused on stopping DDoS [6]. MUD can defend IoT devices in a home from other compromised ones in the household and on the network, with a specific goal of blocking the access of compromised devices to command and control channels.…”

Toward a Blockchain-based Platform to Manage Cybersecurity Certification of IoT devices

“…In this direction, the use of MUD files could also help to reduce the users involvement when installing and deploying new IoT devices. The MUD standard is also strongly considered by the NIST in recent reports to mitigate network-based attacks in IoT [16].…”