Today, functionally safe products are mostly networked and must therefore be particularly protected against cyber risks due to normative requirements. As a leading development service provider in embedded security and as the first company worldwide whose development process for functionally safe products was certified with the highest maturity level, embeX combines the know-how from both areas in the combination of functional safety and embedded security developing products up to SIL 3 and SL 4 certifications.
In addition to the normative requirements, it should be noted in the product definition that a higher security level (SL) of a component such as a control system requires fewer protective measures to be taken externally. Since system considerations always require intensive coordination with the end user, embeX advises on the cost-benefit analysis of improved security protection, where further system components and coordination are not necessary.
The certified embeX development process covers both safety and security requirements and is made available to customers for adaptation on request.
On the one hand, synergies are created in the development of safe and secure products, as both areas place high demands on the care taken in development and predictable behaviour. On the other hand, it is necessary to strike a balance between a large number of opposing objectives of the security concepts on a project-specific basis, as the following table illustrates:
Safety | Security | |
Norm | IEC 61508 (SIL 1-4) | IEC 62443 (SL 1-4) |
Description | Complete, detailled and static | Dynamic description in categories |
Source of damage | System | Internal & external |
Threat analysis | Failure | Vulnerability |
Target | Constant safety function | State-of-the-art security |
Temporal development | One-time development | Regular reassessment and improvement |
Availability | Only required with active safety . | Depending on threat |
System usability | High | If required: Limited |
Standard building blocks | No, due to common cause | Yes to minimise weaknesses |
Coding style | Specific safety rules | Specific security rules |
Updates | To be avoided | Required |
Reaction time for updates . | Months | Typ. 1-90 days |
The networking of functionally safe devices in the IoT environment requires the safeguarding of functional safety through suitable cybersecurity measures. embeX has developed the powerful and field-proven multiprocessor platform KISS for these diverse areas of application - KISS stands for “Keep It Save and Secure”. The platform covers the following core functions of cybersecurity:
The technical basis of the KISS multiprocessor platform is a Yocto-based embedded Linux with the following advantages for manufacturers:
Safety solutions from a wide range of standards (IEC 61508, ISO 13849, MDR, FDA, etc.) can be integrated into the KISS platform to get protected effectively and efficiently with regard to security.
We work according to the following guidelines and standards: