Categories:

The Problem of Cybersecurity in Embedded Systems and Its Solution

Nowadays embedded development gets popular but consistently there appears to be an embedded systems security problem. Security of embedded systems implies a protection from all types of malicious behavior. Such a behavior means threatening attacks with different purposes like threatening data or causing damage to the data. 

So the whole point is to protect the development process from such attacks. For this an embedded security engineer works with the development embedded teams to make sure that the embedded system has necessary security mechanisms that can help it to avoid such attacks or at least minimize its damage.

To build a more accurate image of the cyber attacks let’s take a look into the steps they may include. First of all, a threat actor gets access to the system. And now it is even easier with the IoT technology as it implies the connection using the network that may be easy to attack. That is why embedded IoT security is an important and significant part of cybersecurity. After that a threat tries to understand the main processes and find gaps in them that ensures the system’s vulnerability. It gives him an opportunity to manipulate the system as he needs. 

So cyber security embedded systems are an important part of any developmental process. And to meet this need you may not only hire embedded software programmers but also hire an embedded systems security engineer. It is a specialist that will check your system for vulnerability cases and fill all possible gaps that may become an attack goal. Thus, generally, he does practical research and analysis and builds a working strategy after that.

Embedded Systems Security Engineers Job Market in 2023 

The rising demand for embedded cyber security made us make a deep analysis of the market. So we explored all you may need to know to find a really professional embedded security engineer. 

In such a way we learned that main skills and expertise an expert should have include:

  • knowledge and experience in languages C, C++. Java, Python
  • experience in developing or at least analyzing embedded, hardware or IoT systems
  • an education in computer science field, especially good in cybersecurity or engineering 
  • general experience on working in security for embedded systems (minimum 1 year)
  • skills in software development
  • skills in security assessment for embedded systems
  • good communicative skills

An interesting point we discovered is a difference between the salaries in an embedded system security field in different countries. It is also correlating with the demand of such specialists in various countries. Thus, the highest demand for the ibm embedded security engineers is in Germany, United States, Canada, Japan. The average monthly salary in Germany is $3700, in the United States $7500, in Canada $6600, in France $4300, in Ukraine $500. So, as you can see, the countries with the higher demand have higher costs. That is why in some cases it may be more reasonable to outsource your embedded software security or embedded hardware security.

To start cooperation with a security systems specialist you have several options for the collaboration basis. Thus, you can hire an in-house professional, outsource it to a security company or find a freelance expert. Each option has its situations for supply and, of course, its pros and cons.

Hiring an in-house professional is a good variant for long-term cooperation and full management of the working process. But it may take comparatively a lot of time to find a suitable specialist and may be expensive. The problem of looking for a telants appears just because of the tight circle for the search that is why there may be no suitable suggestions at the market. And even when you are already lucky to find a suitable specialist, you still have plenty of problems with adopting him to the company, coordinating his work and buying all necessary equipment. 

And there are no such problems when outsourcing embedded security solutions to the security company. Choosing a specialist, managing his work, buying equipment, paying taxes and salary is totally the company’s headache but not yours. And as a bonus you get guarantees from the companies side that provides you with high-quality results. Moreover, you can outsource your project to the country with lower salaries so it will be super cost-effective. The only disadvantage of such an approach is possible communication and cultural issues. But it also can be easily managed with all the modern technologies. 

And one more option is hiring an embedded security freelancer. It is the most controversial and risky variant to get an expert. There is no constancy in this option at all. One time you can find highly experienced and qualified specialists fastly and satisfy your project needs easily. But next time you can spend weeks and months on looking for a suitable variant but remain without anything. Besides that, you have no guarantees, so you cannot expect anything from such a cooperation. 

So there are several options for you to satisfy your business’s needs, but the decision always remains by you. To make it right evaluate your business needs and set budget and choose a form of cooperation that will correspond to it perfectly.

Emerging Trends in Embedded Systems Security

With the rapid development of the technical sphere nowadays, some new options that can be successfully used to make the work more pleasant and easier appear every day. So it is important to stay up to date to not make our lives harder. And embedded systems security is one of such fields. 

Embedded security can be successfully added with the blockchain and artificial intelligence. Blockchain is a process mainly used in the crypto sphere to ensure data security. Due to the network that consists of plenty of blocks it is much harder to track the data and steal it as a result. So it can be widely deployed into the embedded systems to ensure their security.

One more modern technology is artificial intelligence. In the cybersecurity sphere it can help to automate the process of searching for vulnerabilities within the system and fixing it that can increase the system’s security a lot. Generally we can say that less manual work means faster work and more qualitative results. Also it can help to improve, for example, embedded linux security as a monolithic system that is hard to update.

So implying modern technologies in different areas of our life is a good idea. In such a way recently technologies can change our life and, for example, embedded systems security, a lot. We can even say that it changes the whole landscape of the industry as it makes it work in an absolutely new and unusual way.

Embedded Systems Security Engineers for Your Business

In such a way, with all the benefits of embedded systems cyber security and modern technologies you and your business can benefit a lot. Especially if you are collaborating with the real professionals that know this field and its specifics very well. 

Thus, dedicated specialists can make your system working persistently and continuously, leading to the minimum the possibility of appearing of any errors or failures. And it is especially important in the security field as it is, surely, an unpleasant moment to lose all that you were working on for a long time. 

So our advice for you is to find an ability to hire a dedicated embedded systems security engineer with high expertise and knowledge of modern technologies to make your business stay ahead of the curve. And to do it effectively you can use the information above that will help you to find an expert that will correspond to your needs and abilities but still bring a lot of useful moments to your embedded software development system. 

For those organizations looking at broader tech leadership roles or strategic guidance in their hiring process, understanding how to find a CTO consultant becomes an invaluable asset. Engaging with a seasoned CTO consultant can streamline the recruitment of specialized roles, ensuring that the organization’s security posture remains robust.

Want to hire a skilled and modern embedded security engineer? Do not hesitate, contact us!

Tags:

Comments are closed