A Reference Separation Architecture for Mixed-Criticality Medical and IoT Devices

Low cost embedded cyber-physical systems and ubiquitous networking has opened up a new world of connected devices in our homes, workplaces, automobiles, and medical clinics. Unfortunately, security has not progressed at the same pace, exposing unwitting users to loss of privacy, personal identifying information, and even safety. This is especially true for connected medical devices which interact directly with patients. Many of these medical devices lack even basic security, and instead rely on rigidly controlled environments of use, which are difficult to achieve and maintain. The Intrinsically Secure, Open and Safe Cyber-Physically Enabled, Life-Critical Essential Services (ISOSCELES) architecture is a reference implementation for future mixed-criticality medical and Internet of Things (IoT) system designs. This reference implementation will allow manufacturers to focus on the clinical side of their product, reducing the time and effort spent ensuring that security vulnerabilities in the resulting platform minimize adverse impacts on patient safety. ISOSCELES' separation architecture, backed by model-based analysis and configuration tools, simplifies product-line design and maintenance, since changes made to only one partition will have limited to no effect on other partitions.