"In the IoT era, hacking could become rampant…security is essential."

IoT, Cryptocurrency, and Automobile Hacking Case Reports
Recommendation for hardware-based security solutions

Kwak Jae-hyun, Vice President of ST, stated that with the rapid growth of the IoT market, most devices are expected to be connected to the Internet, and there is a high possibility that various security incidents of a much more serious nature than before will occur.

At the 21st World Security Expo held at KINTEX in Ilsan on the 22nd, Kwak Jae-hyun, Marketing Manager of the Security MCU Division at STMicroelectronics Korea, emphasized, “In order to prevent IoT security accidents in advance, security must be considered throughout the entire process from the IoT device design stage to manufacturing and discontinuation.”

As the IoT era begins, more and more devices are connected to the Internet through networks, creating new services that never existed before. As a result, various security incidents are occurring, such as external intrusion into IoT devices through connected networks, theft of sensitive personal information stored in the devices, or system malfunctions and errors.is occurring frequently.

When a device is connected to the Internet via a network, it means that a physical environment is created that allows external access to the internal device via the Internet. This inevitably means that hacking from outside may become more and more serious.

Four to five years ago, there were several media reports of hacking of My Fair Classic-based transportation cards and manipulation of balances, and the security solution for authenticating genuine products applied to inkjet printer ink cartridges was hacked, leading to inkjet printers equipped with infinite refill cartridges being released on the market.

Recently, there have been frequent reports of cryptocurrency exchanges being hacked and large amounts of cryptocurrency being stolen, and there have also been reports of vehicles connected to the network being remotely controlled from outside.

In the past, the mainstream emphasis on the importance of security in IoT was to the extent of showing that hacking was possible by analyzing various security vulnerabilities in the system, but now, there is an increasing trend of various actual hacking cases such as ransomware infection of PCs and servers, leak of webcam and home IP camera footage, intellectual property rights infringement through MCU program code extraction, flight path adjustment and footage leak through drone hacking, and theft from cryptocurrency exchanges.

“There are two ways to build IoT security: building it with software and building a hardware-based software security solution,” said Vice President Kwak Jae-hyun. “While preparing for security solely with software has the advantage of being able to be built at a low cost, it is difficult to implement a high level of security, so it may lack the ability to respond to advanced cyberattacks.”

Also, “If we graft software security solutions onto the hardware-based security, we can more quickly proceed with various security processes through encryption algorithms essential for security, and ultimately, we can store the encryption keys that form the basis of the security process in a safe environment, allowing us to more thoroughly prepare for IoT security threats from outside.”rdquo; explained.