RTFM: How hard are IoT platform providers making it for their developers?

TL;DR

It is found that more needs to be done to support developers if they want them to adopt security features---especially in the face of incoming legislation that will require developers to implement them.

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) devices routinely have security issues, but are the platform designers providing enough support to IoT developers for them to easily implement security features for their platforms? We surveyed the documentation, code and guidance from nine IoT manufacturers to look at what guidance they provided for implementing three security features required by several security standards (secure boot, device identity keys and unique per device passwords). We find that more needs to be done to support developers if we want them to adopt security features -- especially in the face of incoming legislation that will require developers to implement them.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Particle Platform-as-a-Service particle_device_2024
• Figure 2: Example of security functionality technical documentation
• Figure 3: Example of developer documentation and code example.
• Figure 4: Example of security functionality and the security feature to be implemented using the functionality.
• Figure 5: Regulations concerning IoT devices in the EU, UK and USA.