[LUM#17] A secure bridge to your connected devices
Your phone, your computer, your tablet—all these connected devices have one thing in common hidden inside them: a chip. This essential integrated circuit has long been a security flaw, but one that can now be fixed thanks to technology created by the company Algodone.
May 7, 2021, United States. An extraordinary cyberattack targets Colonial Pipeline, the largest refined petroleum products pipeline in the United States, threatening the fuel supply for an entire region of the country. June 2017, Ukraine. One-fifth of the city of Kiev is left without electricity after hackers infiltrate the computers of Ukrenergo, the Ukrainian electricity company.
What do these two events have in common? "The introduction of a software virus that infected the internal networks of these companies, with a new and unexpected impact: malicious activation directly on the physical infrastructure. This attack was programmed to include the ability to 'talk' directly to network equipment, sending commands to control systems, and therefore to the very heart of the hardware, " replies Lionel Torres, a researcher at the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics (Lirmm)*.
So, are our thousands of connected devices all potential security breaches? "There is clearly a weak point in all these devices: their chips, which are not secure, or only minimally so, and represent an easy entry point for hackers." Based on this worrying observation, the microelectronics specialist decided in 2015 to develop a suitable solution. "When you use a computer, you are given a license to run the software, but no equivalent system existed for chips at the time, so we created one." Together with Jérôme Rampon and Gaël Paul, he founded the company Algodone and enlisted the support of Languedoc-Roussillon Incubation and SATT AxLR. His goal: to provide a secure bridge between connected devices.
New economic model
With its first patent filed in 2015 and a physical demonstrator soon after, Algodone is offering nothing less than a brand new business model: "We offer a device that enables the secure activation, configuration, protection, and monetization of electronic system networks. This is what we call secure activation licensing technology, " explains the researcher. This technology authorizes the integrated circuit to operate and prevents anyone from accessing it. It can even selectively allow certain users to access or deny access to certain data. This original idea earned Algodone the 2015 i-Lab innovation competition award.
After raising €1.2 million in 2017, the small company has grown and Algodone now has 11 employees. And some big clients. "We mainly work for the cybersecurity sector, notably with large groups such as Thales, Dassault Aviation, MBDA, and STMicroelectronics," explains Lionel Torres. This is a major challenge for this sector, which has set itself the task of combining connected objects with security.
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* Lirmm (UM, CNRS, INRIA, UPVD, UPVM)