How-to articles about the design of secure embedded systems.

Arizona Lottery's Not-So-Random Number Generator

Random numbers -- really, truly random numbers -- play a very important role in security.  Unfortunately, they are also common sources of non-random behavior, as in the Arizona Lottery drawing.

Inexpensive Firmware Process Improvements for Small Teams

Learn practical and easy-to-apply software process improvements that even the smallest design teams can use to make firmware easier to code, debug and test, with a tools cost of less than $600.

ESC Boston: Dangerous Flaws in Safety-Critical Device Design

On May 3, 2017, Barr Group CTO and software expert Michael Barr delivered this keynote about the safety and security of Internet of Things devices at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston.

Security and the IoT

In a recent DDoS attack, devices such as webcams and DVRs were used to launch an attack on domain service provider, Dyn. The enormity of this event brings to light the importance of securing all devices capable of connecting to the Internet.

How to Prevent and Detect Stack Overflow

The safety and security of every embedded system is dependent upon proper operation of the stack (or stacks, if there are multiple). If a stack overflow occurs, a major or minor malfunction is very likely to follow. Despite this, the stack in the majority of embedded systems is sized based on nothing more than a hunch. As well, run-time stack monitoring is too seldom used.

How to Protect Non-Volatile Data

Unexpected power loss and software bugs can undermine the reliability of non-volatile data. Fortunately, there are various ways to make non-volatile data resilient to such corruption.

How to Avoid Common Firmware Bugs

Understanding software and hardware bugs in other embedded systems can help you identify, diagnose, and fix bugs in your own.

State Machines for Event-Driven Systems

State machines are perhaps the most effective method for developing robust event-driven code for embedded systems.

Bug-Killing Coding Standard Rules for Embedded C

A C coding standard can help keep bugs out of embedded software by leveraging common language features and development tools.

More Bug-Killing Coding Standards for Embedded C

This second article on enforceable coding standards for embedded systems adds a set of additional bug-killing rules for using certain C keywords and naming global variables.

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