This project envisions a mixed-security system where some components are trusted while others are not-trusted. This includes both hardware and software. The target hardware platform is a heterogeneous multicore system-on-a-chip where some hardware cores are trusted and other cores are untrusted. The applications executing on this multicore substrate are similarly made out of tasks where some tasks require secure execution and other tasks may be unsecured. The problem is highly relevant to so-called "Internet of Things" systems built from trusted and untrusted components. This proposal conceptualizes a mixed security computing framework that implements user-defined security policies executing on a heterogeneous mixed-trust multicore system-on-a-chip. Four hardware trust "zones" are considered, ranging from highly trusted, somewhat trusted, untrusted to unknown; tasks belonging to an application may execute accordingly based on its security requirement. The project will investigate software-defined security policies and develop hardware hooks to support the software defined security goals. Among other broader impacts, the PI is developing new teaching materials and will pilot a hardware-software co-design course on Hardware-Oriented Cyber Security. This project will also help in that educational effort.
EAGER: A Generalized Framework for Securing Heterogeneous Multicore Architectures