Home communications and services with enhanced security: Augmented embedded systems for communication appliances as an educational platform

Abstract

The increased dependence on ICT services makes home users more vulnerable to online attacks, security breaches, identity thefts, and unauthorized access to valuable information if specific measures and precautions are not properly instated. Nowadays, wired communications are giving way to wireless, and most of the computing devices and appliances that we use are always online, hence potentially vulnerable to attacks and unauthorized access. We address such security issues by an embedded solution targeting home users and small home networks that could be employed on a wide range of communication hardware (e.g., home routers) as a replacement of the standard manufactures firmware. The design, development and all practical aspects of the integration of such embedded system solutions into existing communication appliances are considered as essential components of the Embedded Systems academic course with hands-on experience and practice on networking that we build.