Octopi - Safe Programming for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) conceives a future where “things” are interconnected by means of suitable information and communication technologies. Unfortunately, recent events have demonstrated the high vulnerability of IoT. This situation calls for immediate action: most European industries will move to IoT by 2020, where the ability of Swedish industry to confront this shift will determine its competitiveness in the near future.

There are three root problems in IoT which makes security hard to achieve: lack of security expertise, the use of low-level programming languages (which makes difficult to program securely), and no system-wide control. Octopi will develop technology to easily and securely program the IoT by the use of high-level languages.

The proposal focus on developing a programming model which protects (system-wide) privacy and integrity of data. To exhibit it, Octopi delivers a demonstrator in cooperation with Pelagicore AB--a company specialized in driver-facing systems. While high-level languages are better fit for security, they have the drawback of high resource requirements. In this light, Octopi introduces novel techniques to take high-level languages into embedded constrained devices.

To evaluate such techniques, Octopi delivers a demonstrator in cooperation with LumenRadio AB--a company which develops "things" for IoT. To achieve all its goals, Octopi brings together experts in security, programming languages, and hardware design.