Icon Labs has worked with numerous customers, industry experts and analysts to develop guidelines to make this security design decision a little simpler. The four classes of devices in this whitepaper range from small, Class 1 (8 and 16bit MCUs) devices that have very little room for additional security protocols to complex Class 4 devices running on embedded Linux, Android, or a full-featured RTOS supporting multiple networking protocols.
“Determining the details of security capabilities and features to be implemented for a given device depends upon the available memory, processing power of the core(s), interfaces, attack vectors, threat analysis, and ultimately, business trade-offs,” according to Icon Labs’ president and co-founder Alan Grau.“Companies need to have a consistent approach to security no matter the class of device. Using this framework allows a view of security that is rational and easily implemented.”