Position Overview
Designing secure embedded systems is a critical challenge due to their inherently complex three-layer architecture: hardware, microarchitecture, and software. Cyber threats often exploit vulnerabilities introduced during the design phase, which remain undetected due to a lack of design tools that integrate a realistic attacker model with a holistic approach. Current tools and methods lack a deep understanding of the global system, particularly the interactions between its layers and with its environment (including attacker actions). Existing modeling tools are not yet capable of effectively predicting an embedded systems' resistance to fault attacks, as their generality leads to excessive simulation complexity. This project proposes a more realistic attacker model to identify microarchitecture-specific vulnerabilities. This approach enables designers to develop countermeasures, integrate them into systems, and verify their effectiveness in significantly reducing—or ideally preventing—t...