editor's blog
Subscribe Now

Firewalls Everywhere

We recently heard Netronome’s view on next-generation firewalls, and in particular, how they are migrating from the more traditional boundary protection to be distributed throughout compute farms on each rack.

Well, it goes beyond that, at least in Icon Labs’ view; I talked with them at ESC (or Design West, or ESC, a subsidiary of Design West). They point out the fact that embedded systems are all becoming hackable, with a few interesting examples:

–          Apparently if you send the right text message to the right phone number, you can defeat a car’s anti-theft mechanism and drive off with it. (“Dude, where’s my car??” “Oops, sorry, wrong number…”)

–          If you hack a printer, you can steal the images stored in memory.

–          Pacemakers have been successfully hacked in the lab.

So they see small, embeddable firewalls as critical to closing off these unexpected intrusions.  They need to be incorporated at the lowest possible levels in communications stacks, and they need to be worked into safety-critical standards. From a size standpoint, we are talking small: they target Zilog 8-bit MCUs, with 10-12K of ROM and 40K of RAM.

Whoever would have thought that 8-bit MCUs would be running firewalls…

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Jun 2, 2023
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are not just words but values that are exemplified through our culture at Cadence. In the DEI@Cadence blog series, you'll find a community where employees share their perspectives and experiences. By providing a glimpse of their personal...
Jun 2, 2023
I just heard something that really gave me pause for thought -- the fact that everyone experiences two forms of death (given a choice, I'd rather not experience even one)....
Jun 2, 2023
Explore the importance of big data analytics in the semiconductor manufacturing process, as chip designers pull insights from throughout the silicon lifecycle. The post Demanding Chip Complexity and Manufacturing Requirements Call for Data Analytics appeared first on New Hor...

featured video

Synopsys Solution for Comprehensive Low Power Verification

Sponsored by Synopsys

The growing complexity of power management in chips requires a holistic approach to UPF power-intent generation and low power verification. Learn how Synopsys addresses these requirements with a comprehensive solution for low-power verification.

Learn more about Synopsys’ Energy-Efficient SoCs Solutions

featured paper

EC Solver Tech Brief

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

The Cadence® Celsius™ EC Solver supports electronics system designers in managing the most challenging thermal/electronic cooling problems quickly and accurately. By utilizing a powerful computational engine and meshing technology, designers can model and analyze the fluid flow and heat transfer of even the most complex electronic system and ensure the electronic cooling system is reliable.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Direct Drive: Getting More Juice from Your JFET
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and UnitedSiC
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Jonathan Dodge from UnitedSiC (now part of Qorvo) and Amelia Dalton discuss how you can take full advantage of silicon carbide JFET transistors. They delve into the details of these innovative transistors including what their capacitances look like, how you can control their speed and how you can combine the benefits of a cascode and a directly driven JFET in your next design.
Jun 29, 2022
39,159 views