STTR Phase I: Stochastic Computing Host Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) for IoT devices

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will result from providing a new additional layer of security protection for Internet of Things (IoT) devices by using a novel hardware-based intrusion detection system. Security remains a challenge with most IoT devices, mainly due to the resource-constrained nature of these devices – limited power, computing power and memory. The proposed approach will provide an additional IoT security layer by enabling the detection of anomalous behavior in such devices, encouraging adoption in many new applications. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project employs Stochastic Computing (SC) in a hardware-based Host Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) security solution for IoT devices. Current approaches to IoT security are unable to provide HIDS capability due to the resource constrained nature of such devices. As a result, anomalous behavior may go undetected. The proposed approach exploits two salient properties of SC: (i) low power and silicon area requirements, and (ii) the inherently probabilistic nature, enabling a HIDS for IoT devices by using a combination of SC hardware and a Neural Network to monitor incoming packets for malicious activity. This project will develop, train and test an SC-based HIDS for industrial drones. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.