This document proposes a framework for secure communication in embedded networks. The framework aims to be platform and hardware independent. It incorporates a secured database and self-contained auto adaptation engine. The framework encrypts communication channels, uses secured handshakes, incorporates intrusion detection, and adaptive frames to safeguard the channel. By drawing from proven security technologies in a modular way, the framework provides modest protection for embedded devices while being easy to implement.

1. SECURE COMMUNICATION
FRAMEWORK
FOR
EMBEDDED NETWORKING

2. ABSTRACT
Information security is a challenging issue in any modern-
day events or applications. In order to address such issues
for embedded networks a framework need to be introduced.
A comprehensible, easy to implement yet robust framework
can handle such issues. In this specific project, we are aiming
at achieving a platform neutral, hardware independent
framework.

3. INTRODUCTION
Information security is a persisting issue since the beginning of
information age and it is becoming an even challenging field as more
and more connected devices and communication/networking
standards(e.g. Internet of Things) have been introduced in the recent
years. Majority of the devices associated with these technologies have
embedded systems built-in. So, a framework utilizing those embedded
systems can potentially address the security issues. As majority of
these systems are vendor specific, the framework has to be flexible,
cross platform compatible and independent of hardware architecture.

4. SCOPE
For the sake of simplicity, the scope of the project will be
limited to isolated intranet on generic full duplex
topology. No conventional security threats (like internet
security)or physical threats are handled in this framework.
This framework is intended to be implemented on custom
industrial, scientific and medical networks running on
proprietary physical hardware and protocols.

5. FRAMEWORK
The basic constituents of any communication topology are as follows:
1. Sender
2. Receiver
3. Communication channel
4. Information
5. Protocol
To implement the framework following elements need to be being corporated. These
elements will be used by different constituents of communication topology. The elements
are:
1. Secured database
2. Self-contained auto adaptation engine
The framework will be implemented on a logical level making it independent of
hardware protocol

6. PRINCIPLE
The working of framework can be demonstrated by explaining the
prototype implementation.
Let’s consider a scenario where all possible events are pre-recorded in a
lookup table constructed from a database. The database can only be
accessed by an authenticated set of embedded systems associated with
the networked devices. It is recommended to choose existing
cryptographic algorithms (like AES, RSA, SHA256 etc.) as
authentication method in order to maximize its portability to different
systems.

7. If the system doesn’t have a native cryptographic engine embedded in it,
dedicated crypto-authentication EEPROMs (e.g. ATSHA204) can be
incorporated as storage increasing framework portability even more by
reducing architecture dependency.
Another line of defense can be safeguarding the communication channel. This
can be achieved by following the steps mentioned below:
1. Encrypting the communication channel.
2. Introducing a secured hand-shake before establishing the
communication.
3. Incorporating intrusion detection techniques.
4. Using self-adaptive frames without having any major structural
restriction.

8. CONCLUSION
From the above explanation, it can be concluded that, the
defensive measures taken are crafted out of proven security
technologies ensuring the ease of implementation but put
together in such a way that it ensures modest level of
safeguarding for embedded networking devices. The database
can be a single point of failure in this framework making it the
prime target of a security threat and simultaneously it will be
easier for the network manager as the database will be the only
element requiring attention to ensure security.