ETH and Google cooperate on cyber security
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) is co-developing a technology as part of an open source project that is intended to protect hardware from attacks. Among others, the IT giant Google is also involved in the project.
Whether it's a hospital or a university like ETH. Hardware is increasingly becoming the target of cyber attacks. "Because while vulnerabilities in a program can be patched relatively quickly, hardware is much more static," explains Luca Benini, Professor at the Institute for Integrated Systems at the ETH, in a Interview. Mistakes often go undetected in such attacks, according to Benini.
As part of an open source project, a technology is now to be developed that can detect such attacks. Among other things, the Titan security technology from Google and ETH's open source processor Ibex. In particular, the solution is designed to monitor the start-up of a computer. "Like a baby shortly after birth, a computer needs special protection in the seconds after it starts up," explains Benini.
Various companies already offer similar solutions. But Benini advocates the open-source approach. "I think it's better if the potential victims of an attack work together rather than relying on a single vendor," he says. That way, he says, the solution can continue to be developed even if partners pull out of the project.
In addition to the ETH and Google, current participants include G+D Mobile Security, Nuvoton, Western Digital and the non-profit organization lowRISC involved in the open source project. (Source: ETH)
