CROSSCON: Cross-platform Open Security Stack for Connected Devices

TL;DR

CROSSCON is a three-year European initiative developing an open, modular, and universally compatible security stack to address the diverse and expanding landscape of IoT devices, enhancing security and connectivity.

Contribution

It introduces a portable, vendor-independent IoT security stack designed for heterogeneous hardware architectures, unifying security solutions across diverse connected devices.

Findings

Development of a modular security stack for IoT devices

Compatibility across ARM and RISC-V architectures

Enhanced security and interoperability for IoT ecosystems

Abstract

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) embedded devices is expected to reach 30 billion by 2030, creating a dynamic landscape where diverse devices must coexist. This presents challenges due to the rapid expansion of different architectures and platforms. Addressing these challenges requires a unifi ed solution capable of accommodating various devices while offering a broad range of services to connect them to the Internet effectively. This white paper introduces CROSSCON, a three-year Research and Innovation Action funded under Horizon Europe. CROSSCON aims to tackle current IoT challenges by developing a new open, modular, and universally compatible IoT security stack. This stack is designed to be highly portable and vendor-independent, enabling its deployment across different devices with heterogeneous embedded hardware architectures, including ARM and RISC-V. The CROSSCON consortium consists of 11 partners spanning 8 European countries. This consortium includes 4 academic institutions, 1 major industrial partner, and 5 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).