Systems and methods for securing command and data interfaces to sensors and devices through the use of a protected security zone
View Patent ↗Various embodiments of the invention increase security of a network of interoperable devices. In certain embodiments, this is accomplished by a security module that uses a user-definable security policy that sets forth one or more tests for validating input data or commands received from an IoT device. A validator receives the command via a command controller and performs a security analysis of the command according to the security policy. Responsive to the security analysis, the validator generates a validation signal in order to authorize or reject further processing of the command.
1. A security module to provide a security service to one or more of a plurality of devices that are communicatively coupled to the security module, the security module comprising:
at least one processor;
one or more memory devices communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
a security policy that is stored in a memory device of the one or more memory devices, the security policy sets forth one or more tests for validating an input from a device with an uncertain reliability status because of a potential error or a potential security breach;
a command controller comprising at least one processor and coupled to a network interface that receives the input from the device with an uncertain reliability status;
wherein the security module is further configured to:
receive the input via the command controller that is coupled to the network interface;
perform a security analysis of the input according to the security policy, the security analysis comprising using data from one or more datasets of validation data relevant to the input to gauge reliability of the input by determining whether the input from the device comprises an anomaly relative to at least one dataset of the one or more datasets; and
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input does not comprise an anomaly, output, via a validator, a validation signal to the command controller to authorize further processing of the input by allowing the input to be forwarded to at least one device to enable an action by the at least one device based upon the input, and
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, reject further processing of the input as a valid input.
2. The security module according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more datasets comprises at least one or more of: data obtained from one or more same or similar devices related to a same or similar input; data regarding a trend related to the input; and data regarding a trend related to the device; and a user-definable security criterion.
3. The security module according to claim 2 , wherein the input comprises information related to an Internet of Things (IoT) device and the security analysis of the input comprises a comparison between the input and data received from at least one other IoT device as an independent source of data.
4. The security module according to claim 2 , wherein the security analysis of the input comprises a comparison between the input and metadata that comprises information from one or more independent sources.
5. The security module according to claim 3 , wherein the analysis of the input comprises a comparison between the input and crowd-sourced data that is gathered from the at least one other IoT device, the crowd-sourced data being used to define a norm associated with the input.
6. The security module according to claim 1 , wherein the security component is implemented in a gateway.
7. A gateway for providing security verification to a network of devices, the gateway comprising:
at least one processor;
one or more memory devices communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
a network interface with a network port that receives an input from a device from the network of devices, the device having an uncertain reliability status;
a command controller comprising at least one processor and communicatively coupled to the network interface to direct the input to a security module that performs a security analysis of the input according to a security policy, the security policy is stored in a memory device of the one or more memory devices and sets forth one or more tests for validating reliability of the input; and
wherein the gateway is further configured to:
receive the input via the command controller;
perform the security analysis comprising using data from one or more datasets of validation data relevant to the input to gauge reliability of the input by determining whether the input from the device comprises an anomaly relative to at least one dataset of the one or more datasets;
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input does not comprise an anomaly, output via a validator, a validation signal to the command controller to authorize further processing of the input by allowing the input to be forwarded to at least one device to enable an action by the at least one device based upon the input; and
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, output a validation signal to the command controller to reject further processing of the input as a valid input.
8. The gateway according to claim 7 , wherein the security analysis of the input comprises comparing the input to at least one of the one or more datasets comprising one or more of a characteristic pattern, metadata, and crowd-sourced data.
9. The gateway according to claim 7 , wherein the command controller receives the input from a third-party gateway device to allow the security analysis of the input before allowing the input to be forwarded to an intended recipient of the input.
10. A method to provide security to a network of devices, the method comprising:
receiving via a network interface an input from a device having an uncertain reliability status because of a potential error or a potential security breach;
directing the input to a security zone service that determines a reliability factor associated with the input to validate the input;
analyzing the input comprising using data from one or more datasets of validation data relevant to the input to gauge the reliability factor of the input by determining whether the input from the device comprises an anomaly relative to at least one dataset of the one or more datasets;
in response to the security zone service validating the input because the reliability factor is within an acceptable range, sending a confirmation to a command controller to authorize further processing of the input by allowing the input to be forwarded to at least one device to enable an action by the at least one device based upon the input; and
in response to the security zone service not validating the input because the reliability factor is not acceptable, sending an instruction to the command controller to reject further processing of the input as a valid input.
11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the analysis of the input comprises comparing the input with at least one of the one or more datasets comprising one or more of a characteristic pattern, metadata, and crowd-sourced data to assess the reliability factor associated with the input.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the input comprises data representing a first condition and where the step of comparing the input comprises correlating data representing the first condition and related to a first IoT device to detect an anomalous variation in the data in the input that represents the first condition.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the first condition is derived from information acquired via machine learning.
14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising determining a relationship between the device and the first IoT device.
15. The security module of claim 1 wherein the security module is further configured to:
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, assess a risk factor associated with the anomaly; and
responsive to the risk factor of the anomaly exceeding an acceptable level threshold, cause an alert to be communicate to a user.
16. The gateway according to claim 7 , wherein the one or more datasets comprises at least one or more of: data obtained from one or more same or similar devices related to a same or similar input; data regarding a trend related to the input; and data regarding a trend related to the device; and a user-definable security criterion.
17. The method to claim 10 further comprising:
responsive to the reliability factor exceeding an acceptability threshold, causing an alert to be communicate to a user.
18. The security module of claim 1 wherein the security module is further configured to:
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, blocking other inputs from the device until the device's reliability status has been cleared.
19. The gateway of claim 7 wherein the gateway is further configured to:
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, assess a risk factor associated with the anomaly; and
responsive to the risk factor of the anomaly exceeding an acceptable level threshold, cause an alert to be communicate to a user.
20. The gateway of claim 7 wherein the gateway is further configured to:
responsive to the security analysis determining that the input comprises an anomaly, blocking other inputs from the device until the device's reliability status has been cleared.
21. The method of claim 10 wherein the gateway is further configured to:
response to the security zone service not validating the input because the reliability factor is not acceptable, blocking other inputs from the device until the device's reliability status has been cleared.