Modular Curriculum for Embedded Systems Security

佛罗里达州墨西哥湾沿岸大学的这个项目的目标是提高计算机科学和软件工程中嵌入式系统的教学安全质量。嵌入式系统在我们的日常生活中无处不在，比如微波炉、车库门开启器、汽车、手机和销售点信用卡交易。然而，嵌入式技术的爆炸性增长并没有伴随着大量的教育活动，特别是在嵌入式系统安全领域。嵌入式系统的安全问题与传统企业系统和桌面计算的安全问题有很大的不同。首先，嵌入式系统高度分散，基本上无人看管，这使得它们很容易受到攻击；其次，嵌入式应用程序涉及传感器和执行器的使用，这些传感器和执行器本身都是计算机化的，因此如果没有得到适当的保护，就会出现安全漏洞。潜在威胁的多样性使得很难提供通用的对策来保护嵌入式设备，从而很难传授保护技术。佛罗里达墨西哥湾沿岸大学的嵌入式系统课程包括嵌入式系统编程、数据采集和控制、计算机网络编程和高级软件工程项目的初级和高级课程。在本课程中，学生从事实际项目，使用微处理器、微控制器和FPGA电路设计和实现嵌入式系统。该项目正在开发课程材料，目标如下：1)学习和学习嵌入式系统安全方面的专业问题；2)开发关于该主题的8个学习模块；3)将其作为基于网络的讲座；4)创建用于实际应用的实验室练习；5)由两名专业评估员评估项目结果；以及6)由学生在课堂上评估项目的有效性和影响。这个项目的更广泛的影响在于让本科生接触到嵌入式系统的安全方面，这在本科生的水平上很少涉及。开发和传播全面的学习单元有助于在对美国国家安全至关重要的领域培养一支知识渊博的劳动力队伍。

The objective of this project at Florida Gulf Coast University is to improve the quality of teaching security for embedded systems in computer science and software engineering. Embedded systems are ubiquitous in our everyday lives in microwave ovens, garage door openers, cars, cell phones, and point-of-sale credit card transactions to name a few. However, the explosive growth in embedded technology has not been accompanied by substantial educational activities particularly in the area of the security of embedded systems. The issues in the security of embedded systems are substantially different from those in traditional enterprise systems and desktop computing. First, embedded systems are highly distributed and essentially unattended, which makes them vulnerable; and second, embedded applications involve the use of sensors and actuators, which are themselves computerized and thus subject to security breaches if not protected properly. The diversity of potential threats makes it difficult to provide general countermeasures to protect embedded devices and, consequently, teach protection techniques. The embedded systems curriculum at Florida Gulf Coast University involves junior and senior level courses on Embedded Systems Programming, Data Acquisition and Control, Computer Network Programming and Senior Software Engineering Projects. In this curriculum, students work on real life projects, designing and implementing embedded systems using microprocessors, microcontrollers and FPGA circuits. The project is developing course materials with the following goals: 1) studying and learning professional issues in embedded systems security; 2) developing eight learning modules on the subject; 3) presenting them as web-based lectures; 4) creating lab exercises for practical applications; 5) evaluating the project results by two professional evaluators; and 6) assessing the project's effectiveness and impact in the classroom by the students. The broader impact of this project lies in exposing undergraduate students to the security aspects of embedded systems, which is rarely covered at the undergraduate level. Development and dissemination of comprehensive learning modules is helping to create a knowledgeable workforce in an area that is critical to U.S. national security.