| Project Detail |
Improved security for open-source solutions
Open-source software and hardware play a substantial role in the interconnected business market, providing businesses with functional solutions and reduced work needs. However, the nature of open-source options means that security is not easy to guarantee, particularly since there is no holistic process to check security throughout a production line and third party inclusions. The EU-funded SecOPERA project aims to develop a one-stop hub framework that will allow users to analyse and improve product security when working in networked environments. It will also allow them to test their security solutions, thus supporting the safe growth of open-source development and innovation.
Security of open-source solutions in the business interconnected market (especially in IoT where a single product may include components from various Tier 1 or OEM manufacturers) is hard to assure. OEM SW/HW developers that employ open-source solutions must assume that any component provided by 3rd parties needs to be reassessed for security as there is not holistic security auditing/testing process to cover the full production line. The plethora of open-source HW/SW solutions on devices with constrained resources and no trusted environments leads to a considerably expanded threat landscape. The restricted execution environment reduces bootstrapping new devices in an IoT network and deploying/patching them securely; and the full DevSecOps of connected device open-source HW/SW must be reformulated offering security guarantees on the usage of open-source solutions. SecOPERA will provide a one stop hub for complex OSS/OSH solutions offering to designers, implementers, operators and open-source HW/SW developers the means to analyse, assess, secure/harden and share open-source solutions as these are integrated in an overall complex product within a networked connected environment. SecOPERA provides a framework supporting the open source DevSecOps lifecycle that comprises (i) a decomposition and security audit/testing engine that analyses open source solutions (OSS/OSH) (ii) an adaptation engine that debloats OSS/OSH code to remove unrelated open-source code and reduce the code attack surface; and a security enhancement process to harden the OSS/OSH solution (iii) an updating/patching mechanism so that the SecOPERA open-source flows remain secure even if their open-source code starting points are vulnerable. On top of that, SecOPERA hub provides (iv) an open-source repository for secure modules that is used in the security enhancement mechanism of open-source solutions; and (v) an open-source repository of security hardened OSS/OSH solutions and their security guarantees. |
