Robotics CTF , a playground for robot hacking

Robots state of insecurity is onstage. There is an emerging concern about major robot vulnerabilities and their adverse consequences. However, there is still a considerable gap between robotics and cybersecurity domains. For the purpose of filling that gap, the present technical report presents the Robotics CTF (RCTF), an online playground to challenge robot security from any browser. We describe the architecture of the RCTF and provide 9 scenarios where hackers can challenge the security of different robotic setups. Our work empowers security researchers to a) reproduce virtual robotic scenarios locally and b) change the networking setup to mimic real robot targets. We advocate for hacker powered security in robotics and contribute by open sourcing our scenarios.

Robot hazards: from safety to security

Robotics landscape is experiencing big changes. Robots are spreading and will soon be everywhere. Systems traditionally employed in industry are being replaced by collaborative robots, while more and more professional and consumer robots are introduced in people's daily activities. Robots are increasingly intertwined with other facets of IT and envisioned to get much more autonomy, interacting physically with humans. We claim that, following Personal Computers (PCs) and smartphones, robots are the next technological revolution and yet, robot security is being ignored by manufacturers. The present paper aims to alert about the need of dealing not only with safety but with robot security from the very beginning of the forthcoming technological era. We provide herein a document that reviews robot hazards and analyzes the consequences of not facing these issues. We advocate strongly for a security-first approach as a must to be implemented now.

Introducing the Robot Security Framework (RSF), a standardized methodology to perform security assessments in robotics

Robots have gained relevance in society, increasingly performing critical tasks. Nonetheless, robot security is being underestimated. Robotics security is a complex landscape, which often requires a cross-disciplinar perspective to which classical security lags behind. To address this issue, we present the Robot Security Framework (RSF), a methodology to perform systematic security assessments in robots. We propose, adapt and develop specific terminology and provide guidelines to enable a holistic security assessment following four main layers (Physical, Network, Firmware and Application). We argue that modern robotics should regard as equally relevant internal and external communication security. Finally, we advocate against "security by obscurity". We conclude that the field of security in robotics deserves further research efforts.