Helios: Dual-Purpose Secure Processor

Helios is a secure processor that prevents memory corruption exploits, which account for 46% of all Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) as recorded by MITRE.  This fundamental vulnerability affects billions of AMD, Intel and ARM processors and after decades of work, there is still no conclusive resolution for commercial or Department of Defense (DOD) systems.  Smart phone manufacturers, such as Samsung, have recognized the value of secure processors as a root solution to a pervasive problem and the latest phones coming to market include secure processing capability.  Commercial secure processors still lack certain protections necessary for DOD systems but DOD can expedite the pace of adapting secure processors by using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and building on work done by open commercial standards, such as RISC-V.  Architectures of future systems will include a number of different secure processing approaches but because it leverages previous SBIR work, Idaho Scientific investment and work done by the RISC-V consortium and because it can be implemented in an FPGA, Helios is the fastest opportunity to get trusted and secure processing into operational platforms.   Because neither existing commercial processors nor open standard variants, such as RISC-V, have entirely resolved memory corruption vulnerabilities at their root, Idaho Scientific was awarded a Phase I SBIR by the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop Helios, with the intention of securing grid-connected commercial Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as solar panel and battery control systems.  Star Lab, a Wind River Systems company, the global leader in embedded system software, has licensed an early evaluation copy of Helios. Through this Phase II effort, Helios will be adapted to address DOD cyber survivability requirements, starting with a near term validated need in the MQ-9 platform.  This effort is supported by the Air Force MQ-9 System Program Office (Air Force Customer and End User).  A final demonstration will be held at the government-owned Reaper Test System Integration Laboratory at Redstone Arsenal.