Date Published: May 2024
Comments Due:
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Author(s)
Michael Fagan (NIST), Jeffrey Marron (NIST), Paul Watrobski (NIST), Murugiah Souppaya (NIST), Chelsea Deane (MITRE), Joshua Klosterman (MITRE), Charlie Rearick (MITRE), Blaine Mulugeta (MITRE), Susan Symington (MITRE), Dan Harkins (Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company), Danny Jump (Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company), Andy Dolan (CableLabs), Kyle Haefner (CableLabs), Craig Pratt (CableLabs), Darshak Thakore (CableLabs), Peter Romness (Cisco), Tyler Baker (Foundries.io), David Griego (Foundries.io), Brecht Wyseur (Kudelski IoT), Alexandru Mereacre (NquiringMinds), Nick Allott (NquiringMinds), Ashley Setter (NquiringMinds), Julien Delaplanke (NXP Semiconductors), Michael Richardson (Sandelman Software Works), Steve Clark (SEALSQ, a subsidiary of WISeKey), Mike Dow (Silicon Labs), Steve Egerter (Silicon Labs)
Announcement
About the Project
Provisioning network credentials to IoT devices in an untrusted manner leaves networks vulnerable to having unauthorized IoT devices connect to them. It also leaves IoT devices vulnerable to being taken over by unauthorized networks. Instead, trusted, scalable, and automatic mechanisms are needed to safely manage IoT devices throughout their lifecycles, beginning with secure ways to provision devices with their network credentials—a process known as trusted network-layer onboarding. Trusted network-layer onboarding, in combination with additional device security capabilities, such as device attestation, application-layer onboarding, secure lifecycle management, and device intent enforcement, could improve the security of networks and IoT devices.
To help organizations protect both their IoT devices and their networks, the NCCoE collaborated with 11 IoT product and service providers. This joint effort resulted in the development of five functional technology solutions for trusted network-layer onboarding, as well as two factory provisioning builds, which are detailed in the practice guide.
Submit Your Comments
The public comment period for the draft is open until 11:59 p.m. EST on July 30, 2024. Visit the NCCoE IoT Onboarding project page for the draft publication and comment form.
Contribute
If you have expertise in IoT and/or network security and would like to help shape this or future projects, please consider joining the IoT Onboarding Community of Interest (COI). You can become a COI member by completing the sign-up form on our project page.
Establishing trust between a network and an Internet of Things (IoT) device (as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425) prior to providing the device with the credentials it needs to join the network is crucial for mitigating the risk of potential attacks. There are two possibilities for attack. One happens when a device is convinced to join an unauthorized network, which would take control of the device. The other occurs when a network is infiltrated by a malicious device. Trust is achieved by attesting and verifying the identity and posture of the device and the network before providing the device with its network credentials—a process known as network-layer onboarding. In addition, scalable, automated mechanisms are needed to safely manage IoT devices throughout their lifecycles, such as safeguards that verify the security posture of a device before the device is permitted to execute certain operations. In this practice guide, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) applies standards, best practices, and commercially available technology to demonstrate various mechanisms for trusted network-layer onboarding of IoT devices in Internet Protocol based environments. This guide shows how to provide network credentials to IoT devices in a trusted manner and maintain a secure device posture throughout the device lifecycle, thereby enhancing IoT security in alignment with the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020.
Establishing trust between a network and an Internet of Things (IoT) device (as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425) prior to providing the device with the credentials it needs to join the network is crucial for mitigating the risk of potential attacks. There are two possibilities for attack. One...
See full abstract
Establishing trust between a network and an Internet of Things (IoT) device (as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425) prior to providing the device with the credentials it needs to join the network is crucial for mitigating the risk of potential attacks. There are two possibilities for attack. One happens when a device is convinced to join an unauthorized network, which would take control of the device. The other occurs when a network is infiltrated by a malicious device. Trust is achieved by attesting and verifying the identity and posture of the device and the network before providing the device with its network credentials—a process known as network-layer onboarding. In addition, scalable, automated mechanisms are needed to safely manage IoT devices throughout their lifecycles, such as safeguards that verify the security posture of a device before the device is permitted to execute certain operations. In this practice guide, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) applies standards, best practices, and commercially available technology to demonstrate various mechanisms for trusted network-layer onboarding of IoT devices in Internet Protocol based environments. This guide shows how to provide network credentials to IoT devices in a trusted manner and maintain a secure device posture throughout the device lifecycle, thereby enhancing IoT security in alignment with the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020.
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Keywords
application-layer onboarding; bootstrapping; Internet of Things (IoT); Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD); network-layer onboarding; onboarding; Wi-Fi Easy Connect
Control Families
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