Security breaches happen daily, and they can cost us big time in both money and our peace of mind. Between online account hacking, data breaches, and system infiltration, our personal information and data security have never been more under threat.
The following industries are at risk and need the highest level of cybersecurity.
- Healthcare
- eCommerce
- Small businesses
- Finance
- Government
Cybersecurity specialists work with system design teams to ensure the embedded system has the appropriate security mechanisms to mitigate these attacks’ impact.
From USD 86.5 billion in 2020, the embedded system market is projected to reach USD 116.2 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.1%.
Let’s dive into it the 5 benefits of Embedded Systems.
Embedded Systems Provide Better Protection
Hackers are always trying to identify ways to compromise your data, but integrated systems can add an extra layer of protection. The Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) is one such system that runs inside a device’s hardware and software that gives users added security and control over their information. Using embedded systems over traditional networks, you’ll get unparalleled protection from hackers, cybercriminals, and viruses.
They’re Reliable When an Attack Hits
Unfortunately, those behind attacks are constantly finding new ways to get around what we use to secure networks and personal information. Therefore, it’s imperative to have a backup plan: embedded systems can be used as a secondary measure that acts as a failsafe when the first layer of security is breached. Cyber security can become significantly more reliable by having multiple layers to fall back on.
Hardware benefits and cost-effectiveness
The Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) is a hardware system dedicated to improving the security and privacy of devices. TEEs are usually found in smartphones or smart TVs and provide a secure environment for encrypted data such as payment information, biometric authentication details, e-mails, and chats.
This trusted computing environment creates a more effective way to perform sensitive tasks that can reduce the costs involved with cybersecurity.
The hardware of embedded systems is less costly since they are designed to perform specific tasks. However, the system remains high-quality and performs well despite its less expensive hardware. In addition, the ability to repurpose hardware is a massive benefit for embedded systems, as it saves money and time.
For example, some tools can be easily adapted to perform cybersecurity tasks while still functioning as they normally would.
Physical or virtualized network security tools are typically equipped with vendor-specific software. In addition, some businesses create their own network security tools using commodity server hardware and custom software.
These tools include:
- Network security monitoring tools.
- Firewall tools.
- Encryption tools.
- Penetration testing.
- Web vulnerability scanning tools.
- Network intrusion detection.
- Antivirus software.
- Packet sniffers.
Security teams protect their organization’s networks, critical infrastructure, and sensitive data using these software or hardware-based network security tools.
Fast performance with a smaller size
Embedded systems perform differently depending on several factors. Therefore, optimizing a system’s performance requires developers to consider non-functional requirements, such as execution time, energy consumption, and memory capacity.
In determining the performance of an embedded system, design scalability and other metrics are important. A single task embedded system is fast and reliable.
Compared to larger systems, embedded systems require less power because of their small size. Moreover, the smaller size makes them load faster as the system has fewer elements to deal with. Additionally, it assures a manufacturer’s flexibility since they can produce them in large numbers. Therefore, smaller embedded systems load more quickly.
The Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) is a secure execution environment that provides higher performance for many embedded systems. The TEE can also be used to reduce the overall size and improve the performance of current devices, especially mobile devices. Using these devices with high-performance, smaller TEE allows manufacturers to create products faster than ever.
Use in Military Applications and Mobile Robots
Engineers are increasingly interested in mobile robots, as they facilitate engineering education perfectly.
Previously, mobile robots could only be controlled by large, expensive, heavy non-portable computers connected by cables. The developers can, however, create small mobile robots that use several sensors and are governed by embedded computer systems that are small and light. The use of embedded systems in military applications, such as the use of advanced vehicle computers, is also possible.
In these systems, intelligent platforms combine with high-performance computing to create highly flexible computing platforms.
Conclusion
Embedded systems in cyber security are a great way to strengthen your defenses against hackers. From real-time monitoring to alerting you when something goes wrong, embedded systems can be invaluable to any business required to keep its data safe. The benefits of embedded systems make them a powerful tool for safeguarding your company’s information and keeping it out of malicious hands.
Embedded technology has created endless possibilities in electrical engineering. The benefits of embedded systems have been proven time and time again. This is why they are an essential part of any cyber security strategy.
In ten or twenty years, where will embedded cybersecurity be? As processors become faster and more powerful, cybersecurity will likely follow.
