Resilient, Secure, and Programmable Next-Generation Internet of Things (IoT)

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We are surrounded by embedded computing devices, in our homes, offices and cars. As the world moves towards expanding connectivity, it is increasingly common for these devices to be connected to the Internet. This connectivity opens up tremendous opportunities to improve our quality of lives. For example, many homes already have devices such as smart meters and smart thermostats, which can obtain real-time information about both energy prices and weather forecasts from the Internet to ensure that the temperature settings are automatically set to their optimal values. Collectively, these interconnected embedded devices are known as the Internet of Things (IoT).  Unfortunately, the connected nature of IoT devices renders them vulnerable to both accidental faults and malicious attacks. Because we depend on these devices for our day-to-day activities, their failures can cripple our daily lives and, in some cases, lead to devastating consequences. An example is the failure of the Nest thermostat after a routine software upgrade. Even more importantly, these devices are targets for malicious attackers who want to wreak harm on society for financial gains or for personal ends. Recently, there have been numerous instances of security attacks on smart meters, automotives, and even on medical devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps. Therefore, there is a compelling need to make IoT devices resilient to both accidental faults and malicious attacks. Further, because of the proliferation of IoT devices, there is a shortage of experienced software developers to program these devices in a reliable and secure fashion. Therefore, we need to provide programmable abstractions to enable software development for these devices, without requiring high-levels of developer expertise and effort. In this proposal, I will develop novel techniques to enhance the reliability, security and programmability of IoT software. This problem is challenging for three reasons: First, there are a wide variety of IoT devices and architectures, each with different constraints and requirements. Designing a unified solution that can work across multiple devices is challenging. For example, the constraints of a smart meter are very different from those of a pacemaker. Second, unlike traditional computer systems, IoT systems are deployed in situations where there is no "human in the loop". Hence these systems cannot use human decision making to resolve ambiguities or false alarms. For example, when a car is driving down the highway, falsely alerting the driver of a possible attack may cause him/her to panic. Finally, because IoT devices are often inexpensive, mass-produced devices, device manufacturers are reluctant to adopt techniques that are costly to deploy at large scale, and hence cost is very important. This proposal will tackle the above 3 challenges using a four-step approach. It will also train a total of 15 HQPs (10 Undergrads, 3 PhDs, 2 Masters) over 5 years.