Embedded Platforms for Trusted Edge Computing towards Quality Assurance along the Supply Chain

Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications for the traceability of sensitive products are crucial for the quality assurance along the supply chain. Embedded systems involved in such applications must offer protection against adversaries with administrative privileges, which may exploit their elevated access to violate regulatory compliance. In this paper, we examine Platform Security Architecture (PSA) certified platforms for trusted computing that offer Root-of-Trust (RoT) mechanisms to protect assets against adversaries with administrative privileges. We propose two trusted edge computing IoT gateways that secure the traceability of products during the supply chain distribution based on Cortex-M and Cortex-A ARM processors. The gateways are compared in terms of their provided security services and serviceability as well as their power and computational efficiency. The Cortex-M based gateway exhibits smaller attack surface and higher power efficiency than the Cortex-A; however its software stack is limited. Furthermore, we present recent research outcomes that reduce the attack surface in trusted edge computing platforms, and we point out that FPGA-based platforms based on an open microprocessor, such as the RISC-V, could be an alternative direction for secure gateways that combine the necessary computational power with a reduced attack surface.