Collaborative Research: CSR: Small: Caphammer: A New Security Exploit in Energy Harvesting Systems and its Countermeasures

作为电池供电的物联网（IoT）设备的替代品，能量收集系统（EHS）已经出现。EHS不使用电池，而是通过从外部来源（如射频、WiFi等）收集环境能量来为设备供电。然而，由于这种环境能源是不可靠的，它们产生的电力本质上是不稳定的，经常会被淘汰。为了解决这个问题，EHS利用电容器作为能量缓冲器，并在电容器获得足够能量时进行计算，即电容器是任何EHS设备的核心。不幸的是，在频繁的电源故障中，电容器可能不可靠，因为它们不断充电和放电，随着时间的推移会失去其原始电容。更重要的是，攻击者可以利用电容器可靠性问题导致不正确的输出或降低目标EHS设备的服务质量。为此，本研究项目侧重于调查攻击面并设计具有成本效益的对策。该项目的成果将通过保持服务质量和安全性，为无电池物联网服务奠定基础。该项目还旨在将研究成果整合到本科教学中，并通过K-12外展计划促进女性在计算机科学方面的公平成果。这个项目包括三个主要的研究重点。首先，它引入了一种新的安全攻击，称为电容器锤击攻击（简称Caphammer），其目的是远程降低受害者EHS设备中的电容器。通过操纵电源故障频率，这种攻击可能导致数据损坏和拒绝服务（DoS）。其次，设计了一种新颖的储能架构，可以有效地防止Caphammer攻击并恢复原有电容。这种设计利用电容器和EHS的独特特性来实现对Caphammer攻击的弹性。第三，该项目开发了一种基于智能编译器/运行时协同设计的轻量级对策，通过构建自恢复程序来防止数据损坏并降低DoS问题的风险。因此，这些研究目标共同旨在增强EHS设备的安全性和可靠性，保护它们免受可能通过Caphammer发起的其他潜在攻击。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An energy harvesting system (EHS) has emerged as an alternative to battery-operated Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Instead of using a battery, EHS self-powers its device by collecting ambient energy from external sources such as radio frequency, WiFi, etc. However, since such ambient energy sources are unreliable, their resulting power is inherently unstable and often goes out. To address the problem, EHS leverages a capacitor as an energy buffer and computes when the capacitor secures a sufficient amount of energy, i.e., capacitors are at the heart of any EHS devices. Unfortunately, capacitors can be unreliable in the presence of frequent power failure across which they continuously charge and discharge, losing their original capacitance over time. More importantly, attackers can exploit the capacitor reliability issue to cause incorrect outputs or degrade the quality of service in targeted EHS devices. To this end, this research project focuses on investigating attack surfaces and designing cost-effective countermeasures. The project outcome will lay the foundation for batteryless Internet of Things services by maintaining their quality of service and security. The project also aims to integrate research findings into undergraduate teaching and promote equitable outcomes for women in computer science through K-12 outreach program.This project involves three major research thrusts. First, it introduces a new security attack called capacitor hammering attack (simply Caphammer), which aims to remotely degrade capacitors in the victim EHS devices. By manipulating power failure frequency, this attack can result in data corruption and denial of service (DoS). Second, the project designs a novel energy storage architecture that can effectively prevent the Caphammer attack and restore the original capacitance. This design leverages the unique characteristics of capacitors and EHS to achieve resilience against Caphammer attacks. Third, the project develops a lightweight countermeasure based on intelligent compiler/runtime co-design to prevent data corruption and mitigate the risks of DoS problems by constructing self-recoverable programs. Consequently, these research goals collectively aim to enhance the security and reliability of EHS devices, safeguarding them against other potential attacks that can be launched through Caphammer.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.