Internet of Pwnable Things: Challenges in Embedded Binary Security

Embedded systems are everywhere, from consumer electronics to critical infrastructure, and with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), such systems are set to proliferate throughout all aspects of everyday life. Due to their ubiquitous and often critical nature, such systems have myriad security and privacy concerns, but proper attention to these aspects in the embedded world is often sorely lacking. In this article I will discuss how embedded binary security in particular tends to lag behind what is commonly expected of modern general purpose systems, why bridging this gap is non-trivial, and offer some suggestions for promising defensive research directions.