WootCloud Labs would be collaborating with IoT companies to alert the wider IoT community of these vulnerabilities for preventing attacks before they occur.
WootCloud, an innovative IoT cybersecurity company, has announced a global research initiative to help the OpenSource and IoT community at large identify IoT cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
As part of this initiative, WootCloud Labs, the research division of WootCloud, is addressing a mission critical need for businesses worldwide. Using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Neural Network technology, WootCloud Labs is conducting highly detailed research and analysis to identify IoT (Internet of Things) threats that have historically gone undetected.
WootCloud Labs would be working with IoT organizations and companies to alert the wider IoT community of these vulnerabilities for preventing attacks before they occur.
“With so many smart devices available in the wild, device sprawl is rampant and creates an environment that is becoming more and more inviting for attackers,” said Srinivas Akella, founder and CTO of WootCloud.
“At WootCloud Labs our goal is to deliver actionable insights to the IoT community, empowering businesses with the information they need to get ahead and stay ahead of a wide range of vulnerabilities, exposures and exploits. We are looking forward to continuing to collaborate with organizations to deliver research and analysis around a wide variety of impending threats,” he added.
Expanding IoT ecosystem
According to Juniper Research, the number of IoT connected devices may reach 38.5 billion in 2020 and spending on IoT cybersecurity solutions is expected to increase to over $6 billion globally by 2023.
WootCloud Labs aims to help enterprises and security firms get ahead of and detect new threats that exist in the rapidly expanding IoT ecosystem.
The research team at WootCloud Labs has identified and ethically disclosed numerous new threats over the past year. These include the following:
The presence of three new botnet families on Polycom HDX systems, both mimicking the behaviour of the Mirai botnet. The malware families are a version of the Bushido and Hades Bots. WootCloud Labs detected the infections in the Asia region. A number of Polycom devices were found to be running the discovered bots, which performed brute-force and password cracking operations from the device via the telnet interface. APIs supported by Polycom devices are abused by the attackers for performing unauthorized operations on the device.
The OMNI botnet, which harnesses the power of open open-source software packages such as “BusyBox,” WGet” and others that shipped with the embedded firmware of the Polycom devices. OMNI bypasses the various authentication mechanisms and enables a complete takeover of the target device. It also enables the attackers to launch brute-force attacks and DDoS attacks and allow conferencing systems to act as proxy devices for routing malicious communications such as Command and Control (C&C).
More than 200,000 Cisco routers running with exposed web administrative panels. Exposed routers could become potential targets for malware authors to compromise these devices and use the same for forming botnets. Compromised routers can be used for building botnets to trigger unauthorized operations such as launching brute-force attacks, bitcoin mining, building hidden proxy tunnels, and many others. WootCloud Labs’ research reflected the risk of allowing administrative web consoles to be exposed on the Internet, as they can be accessible by remote users without any restriction.
“In a climate where more than half of organizations have no good control over or have an accurate assessment of devices available on their network, there is an urgent need to proactively identify and manage ‘dark devices’ in a more effective way,” said Akella.
He added that WootCloud is committed to developing solutions and insights that will continue to address this demand.
IoT is gaining ground in our lives at a very rapid rate. This makes the study of IoT and its related aspects very important. This article presents open source IoT tools and services in a nutshell.
The term ‘open source’ is primarily related to software in which the source code is freely accessible to users other than the developer —for examination, use and modification or expansion.
The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) is based on the continuous developments in the fields of microelectronics, IT and communications, and it is evident this trend will continue. Openness has been the most noted driver of the IoT revolution. It has helped create many interesting applications, ranging from automated kettles to data analysers.
As IoT comprises connected objects like smart appliances, machinery, wheels, etc, the user experience with it relies on the physical structure, its specifications and the way it’s been applied.
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What drives open source
There are three main elements behind the growth of the open source movement.
Beneficiaries: They wish to use a wide category of consumer technologies and not just those from a particular vendor.
IoT service providers: They have developed various technologies, paving the way to versatile compatibility.
Developers: They develop openly accessible code supporting a range of devices, platforms and technologies, rather than being locked with just one vendor.
Figure 1: Internet protocol vs IoT protocol
What follows is a bird’s eye view of the various open source tools and services that will help in the development of IoT.Open source IoT development tools
Arduino is an open source prototyping platform with both software and hardware offering ease of use. It is also interactive, with a simple programming language and an IDE.
Kinoma is a prototyping hardware platform from Marvell Semiconductor, which controls over three open source projects, namely, Kinoma Create, a DIY construction kit; Kinoma Studio, a development environment; and Kinoma Connect, a free app for Android and iOS, connecting IoT devices and mobile devices.
The Eclipse project sponsors numerous projects on IoT, including application services and frameworks, open source implementation of IoT protocols, and Lua development tools.
M2M Labs is another open source framework for building M2M applications such as smart grids, fleet management, remote monitoring, etc. Its capabilities include flexible device modelling, device configuration, device and application communication, data validation and normalisation, prolonged data storage and recovery. It is based on the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database.
Open source hardware
Arduino Yun combines the microcontroller and Linux for the Arduino board. It comprises the ATmega32u4 (which supports Arduino) and the Atheros AR9331 (which runs on Linux) processors. Its built-in features are Wi-Fi, Ethernet, a USB port, microSD card, reset buttons, etc.
BeagleBoard offers credit card-sized boards that run Android and Linux. Since its power requirements are very low, the BeagleBoard is obviously the better choice for IoT devices. It is available with a wide range of vendors—both hardware and software are open source and sold under the name BeagleBone.
Flutter is a programmable electronics processor core for hobbyists, students and engineers. It is based on Arduino, and has a wireless transmitter with a half-mile range. It requires no router and communicates directly with other boards. It includes an asynchronous encryption of 256 bits and offers flexible usage.
LightBlue Bean Punch Through is a low power microcontroller for Bluetooth Arduino. It is wirelessly programmed, runs on a coin cell battery and is ideal for smartphone-controlled projects using Bluetooth 4.0.
Open source operating systems
AllJoyn is a free-licence OS for IoT, originally designed and developed by Qualcomm and now sponsored by the AllSeen Alliance of organisations, which includes LG, Qualcomm, Panasonic, Microsoft, Sharp, Cisco, Symantec and many others. It offers a range of services and frameworks, which enable producers to design compatible devices. It is a cross-platform API for OS X, iOS, Windows 7 and Android applications.
Contiki is an open source operating system for the Internet of Things. It merges microcontrollers to the Internet. It supports standards such as RPL, CoAP, IPv6 and 6lowpan.
Raspbian is a credit card-sized computer that is popular among developers though it was introduced as an educational device. This is not entirely open source, though much of its software and documentation is. It is the most famous Raspberry Pi OS based on Debian Linux.
Figure 2: Eclipse IDE
Open source protocols
Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is a business messaging Internet protocol. It is an open standard for communicating between applications or companies. It connects systems, feeds business processes with the information they need, and transmits instructions to achieve set objectives reliably.
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a “specialised Web transfer protocol to be used in the Internet of Things with restricted nodes and networks.” This protocol is intended for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications such as intelligent energy and the automation of building infrastructure.
Very Simple Control Protocol (VSCP) probably should be called a framework rather than a protocol. It is a highly scalable, very low footprint, free and open solution for the discovery and identification of devices, their configuration, autonomous device functionality, securely updating the devices — overall, a solution from the sensor to the user.
Industry consortia for open source
Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) is a non-profit organisation founded by leading technology companies with the aim of defining the requirements for connectivity and the interoperability for the billions of devices that make up the Internet of Things.
Eclipse IoT supports open Internet of Things standards. It provides the IoT protocols open source implementations such as CoAP, oneM2M, LWM2M, MQTT, OPC-UA, and more.
Open source APIs
Zetta is an open source platform, built on Node.js to create servers running over geo-distributed computers and the cloud. Zetta combines WebSockets and REST APIs with reactive programming. This is ideal for assembling many devices in data-intensive applications in real-time.
BipIO exposes an easy-to-access HTTP API for any device. We can use its drag-and-drop simplicity to automatically connect to Web APIs with dozens of pods.
Open source middleware
IoTSyS is middleware that comes with an intelligent device communication stack. It supports several IPv6, oBIX, 6LoWPAN, Constrained Application Protocol and Efficient XML Interchange standards and protocols.
OpenIoT: Its website explains that the project is open source middleware for sensor cloud information, which saves users from having to worry about the exact sensors used. It aims to enable cloud-based ‘Sensing-as-a-Service’ and has developed cases for intelligent agriculture, smart production, urban crowd sensing, smart living and smart campuses.
Figure 3: Hazelcast IMDG
Open source integration tools and platforms
DeviceHive offers a communication framework for connecting M2M devices to the IoT. It includes easy-to-use Web management software for networking, application security regulations and live monitoring devices. It also contains files on sample projects developed with DeviceHub, and has a simulation section where it provides visualisation of how DeviceHub works online.
DeviceHub.net could be considered the ‘open source backbone of IoT’. It renders a cloud facility to monitor, track and control the devices, and stores the data collected from the Web page directly, and in real-time. It is mainly concerned with tracking health care information, the location of children and vehicles, monitoring weather, etc.
Open source toolkits
IoT Toolkit is a collection of libraries that enables communication with the latest IoT based environments and devices. This high-performance library collection is optimised for minimal memory consumption in RAM, ROM, high speed and versatility, on any device.
KinomaJS is a JavaScript based framework designed to create core embedded device applications. It has support for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Android and iOS.
Open source Node Flow editors
Node-RED is a Flow-based Internet of Things programming tool for connecting hardware devices, APIs and online services in an interesting and new way.
ThingBox is a set of ready-to-use software that is already installed and set up on an SD card. It’s not a new automatic home box. It aims to help create new use cases that go much further than home automation.
Open source data visualisation
ThingSpeak is an IoT analytics service that allows you to aggregate, view and analyse live data streams from the cloud. It provides instant visualisation of data posted to ThingSpeak by your devices.
Freeboard is a free, open source dashboard project with optional hosted subscriptions that can be easily integrated and elegantly designed with a variety of data sources.
Open source home automation software
OpenHAB integrates different home automation systems, devices and technologies into a single solution. It is supplier- and hardware-neutral, and runs on any Java-activated system. One of its objectives is to enable users to add and combine new features to their devices.
Thing System comprises software and network protocols. It promises to find and bring together all the things in your home that are connected to the Internet so that you can control them. It supports a wide range of devices including Nest thermostats, Samsung smart air conditioners, Insteon LED bulbs, Roku, Google Chromecast, Pebble smart clocks, Goji smart locks and more. It is written in Node.js and can be connected to a Raspberry Pi.
Open source in-memory data grids (IMDG)
Hazelcast IMDG is often used as a database operating memory layer to improve application performance; distribute data across servers, clusters and geographies; ingest data at very high rates and manage large data sets.
Ehcache is a standards-based open source cache that improves performance, offloads your database and simplifies scalability. It is the most commonly used Java cache because it is robust, proven, fully functional and integrates with other popular libraries and frames.
The top ten IoT trends for 2019 and beyond
Gartner shared a write-up about the ten vital trends that will influence the Internet of Things (IoT), from 2019 through to 2023, at the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo in Barcelona, Spain in 2018. These are:
New wireless networking technologies for IoT
New IoT user experiences
Social, legal and ethical IoT
IoT governance
Sensor innovation
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Infonomics and data broking
The shift from the intelligent edge to the intelligent mesh
AI rewrites the prescription to ‘predict and then prevent’.
The surgeon uses controls in the console to manipulate special surgical
instruments that are smaller and more flexible than the human hand.
But the biggest inroads of robots in
healthcare may be in the area of surgery. Robotic Surgery also known as
Robot-assisted surgery, marries advanced computer technology with the skill
and experience of a human surgeon. It is a method of
performing surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm. The
surgeon controls and manipulates the arm from a computer console. The huge
advantage is this: An electronic eye in the robot arm sends back a high
definition 3-D image, magnified 10 times, which the surgeon can view on
the computer screen: something not possible in conventional surgery. Insta ECG
Headed by cardiologist Charit Bhograj, Tricog found a value proposition in that
ubiquitous diagnostic tool the Electro Cardio Graph or ECG. The likelihood of
surviving a heart attack is over 80 per cent if action is taken within the
first two hours. However, the average time between symptoms and treatment in
India is over 6 hours. By simply reducing this, millions of lives can be saved
every year.
While heart attacks can be detected by a quick ECG, there are two constraints:
First: most primary care clinics are not equipped with ECG machines. Second:
Even where such machines are available, staff do not receive sufficient
training in ECG interpretation. This is where Tricog steps in — by providing, the
fast and accurate diagnosis of an ECG, by combining AI Technology with
human expertise. Tricog ECG devices, strategically located at local clinics
help doctors detect heart complications within minutes. The devices are
cloud-connected and accessed by trained expert doctors. Within minutes of
collecting the ECG results, the diagnosis is shared with both the patient and
the doctor in real-time. Analysing visual medical data
Bangalore-based SigTuple creates AI-based solutions to automate healthcare
screening. It has built intelligent screening solutions to aid diagnosis
through AI-powered analysis of visual medical data. The start-up founded by
Apurv Anand and Rohit Pandey in 2015, has created an AI platform, Manthana,
which helps analyse visual medical data efficiently. This analyses blood,
urine, semen etc — and chest X Rays. ‘Hot’ new way to check breast cancer
Most women are aware of the importance of checking early for any signs of
breast cancer. And some still keep putting off a traditional test because of
the hassle. Machines assist Man
Care giving is hard work, tedious, boring and often emotionally draining. Most
of it is done by the lowest paid rung of medical workers. And there is always a
shortage of such staff. Which is why the healthcare assistive robot
market is seen as the most promising application of robots in medicine
— and an estimated $1.2 billion market within five years.
Healthcare
is poised at a crucial tipping point today. Thanks to technologies like AI,
Machine Learning and — new buzzword — Internet of Medical Things (IoMT),
vast amounts of clinical data can now be gobbled up, digested and interpreted
within seconds. The patient’s medical history, past and present lifestyle,
living environment, personal habits, present medication and genetics can be
rapidly analysed to predict future ailments that could conceivably lead to a
life-threatening situation. This is where predictive healthcare morphs into
preventive healthcare.
This
— complemented by DNA testing — is already being touted as the next big
technological advancement in healthcare. All this patient-centred data will go
into one electronic window called Electronic Health Record (EHR), which may
soon become a global standard: Your EHR will be accessible where ever you go
ensuring you receive immediate care, anytime anywhere.
Philips,
a leader in healthcare technology is touting another avatar of AI:
solutions that are secure, firmly grounded in scientific research, and
validated in clinical practice. They call this combination of AI solutions and
domain knowledge: adaptive intelligence. The company has launched a
global startup collaboration programme focused on the application of artificial
intelligence in healthcare. One of the three centres is Bangalore. The India
team screened more than 150 healthcare start-ups in the Asia-Pacific region
that had AI and radiology as part of their proposition and the most promising
five start-ups are being coached and facilitated today from Philips Innovation
Campus, Bangalore.
In
other ways too, India has become a fertile ground for startup innovators who
are cannily marrying AI and medicine to provide new generation healthcare
solutions. Here are the promising new ventures:
Robotic surgery
The
surgeon uses controls in the console to manipulate special surgical instruments
that are smaller and more flexible than the human hand. The robot replicates
the surgeon’s hand movements, and eliminates human shortcomings like hand
tremors. The result: surgeons are able to perform the most complex procedures
with a higher degree of precision, dexterity and control than humanly possible.
The
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, led the robotic revolution
in India. The first robotic surgery (of the prostate) was performed at
AIIMS in July 2006. The first robotic device to perform surgical procedures was
the da Vinci Surgical System launched in 2000 — and it remains the most widely
used worldwide — there are some 60 installations in India alone. Robotic
surgery is increasingly used the for treatment of prostate, kidney and
urinary bladder cancer as well as for spine surgery. But in a
country where such advanced technology tends to be concentrated in metros,
can robots perform surgery remotely — with the surgeon miles away
from the patient? This exciting possibility became reality — a few months
ago.
The
CorPath system from US-based Corindus Vascular Robotics was used to
conduct the world’s first-in-human robotic coronary surgery in India on
December 4 and 5, 2018. Five patients located at the Apex Heart Institute in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, underwent the procedure from a distance of 32 km. It
was performed by Dr. Tejas Patel, Chairman and Chief Interventional
Cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute, from inside the Swaminarayan
Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar. Robotic surgery is a done thing today and the
option is increasingly available in India’s leading hospitals. Now after
the successful Ahmedabad trial, the Next Wave may well be Tele
Robotics — robotics surgery from afar.
Tricog:
SigTuple:
Their
USP is the speed with which this data is analysed... enabling doctors to
make a quick diagnosis in life threatening situations. SigTuple was given
the ‘Judges’ Choice’ award at the Google’s first Demo Day Asia programme held
in Shanghai, late last year.
Nirmal
Now
maybe, more women will take the test —with a new procedure that is simple,
non-invasive and radiation free. It is called NIRAMAI (Non-Invasive Risk
Assessment with Machine Intelligence), and harnesses an innovation,
Thermalytix, a combo of AI with thermal imaging — eat maps — to detect
breast cancer at an early stage.
NIRAMAI
which means ‘free from illness’ in Sanskrit is a Bangalore-based tech startup
cofounded by Dr Geetha Manjunath, earlier a Principal Research Scientist at Hewlett
Packard Laboratories for 17 years and Nidhi Mathur, former Senior Product
Manager at Xerox Research.
The
breast cancer test is based on six patents and is currently available in
Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mysore, Dehradun and Odisha.
Robotic health-givers
Walking
robots that cart medication and supplies across hospitals are a common sight in
some Japanese and American hospitals, replacing ‘runners’ and ward boys.
But
what about a robot that wakes up elderly patients greet them with a human-like
voice, help them out of bed and make sure they are clean after
going to the toilet, then ensure they take their medicine? The Robot Caregiver
is triggering a gold rush-like trend in end-of-life care and will soon enable
many such patients to remain in their own homes. Robots with brand names
like Paro, Tugs and Bestic are available off the shelf, to assist
the elderly.
In earlier articles on robotics, we have discussed how the industry is (very predictably) going to be the future. The industry is growing at an exponential scale. However, this is not only true for western countries but startups in India too.
Multiple companies are now venturing into the foray of robotics and applying it through different perspectives. While the layman’s understanding of robotics may only be through mechanics or humanoid looking things moving around, robotics is so much more. It can be very obvious or it can be inconspicuous. In this series, we shall be discovering startups in the country that are looking at Robotics through different niches and are on their way to creating successful companies.
This time we will be looking at a company that goes by the name Gridbots.
What Is Gridbots?
Gridbots picks two subsets of robotics and works with those- Artifical Intelligence and Machine Vision. Those familiar with the robotics industry will know that machine learning and artificial intelligence are two sub-industries that are thriving under robotics. And Gridbots has found its calling in these sub-industries. But what does the company exactly do?
Gridbots as a company wants to make the advantages robotics has and make it a part of everyone’s daily life. They are in the business of identifying jobs that are currently done manually and replace them with more efficient robots.
Before we take a look at what the company does or makes, let us take a look at the start of the company and the founders.
The Beginning:
Gridbots was founded in August of 2007 by Pulkit Gaur. This was fairly before robotics had entered into mainstream startup culture or consideration.
He was a student of engineering from Jaipur, dabbling in various aspects of the field at a graduate and postgraduate level. His curiosity knew no bounds and because of his constant experiments and creations in engineering, he was awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Young Creator of the Year Award in 2012.
Gaur is said to have founded this company out of pure love for the industry. He wanted to build useful products that are run by intelligence and not just instructions.
The Products
Gridbots operates in a number of various sectors. There are 5 major industries for which the company makes specialized robots:
Defence and Homeland
Space Robots
Nuclear Robots
Power Plant Robots
Underwater Robotics
You may see a pattern. All of these industries involve high energy or high-risk material which can endanger human working conditions. They also require a terribly accurate application- something that humans are not very capable of. Robotics becomes a gift in these high-pressure industries.
Let us take a little bit of a dive into what kind of products this company makes by taking a look at some examples. This will give us an insight into what they mean when they say “robots” and how they operate in the above industries. Some of its products include:
1. The Sleuth Hound
Industry: Defence and Homeland
What It Does: The Sleuth Hound is 360 pan-tilt-automatic tracking camera that can be used in the defence industry for security reasons. It can withstand harsh environments and is more durable than regular CCTV camera which makes it an optimum choice in high-risk, combat settings.
2. The Hexamove
Industry: Space Robotics
What It Does: The Hexamove is a positioning system. To put it simply it can help position and repair machines in space that require a high level of positioning accuracy. The job of repairing space machinery is extremely difficult as it requires the job to be done in the quickest manner but with no room for error. The Hexamove with its 6 degrees-of-freedom movement and an accuracy of 50 microns. This makes it a robot that is doing a job that a human cannot accomplish with the same level of accuracy and efficiency.
3. The Nu Crawler
Industry: Nuclear Robotics
What It Does: Nuclear material is extremely dangerous when directly dealt with by humans. Extreme precautionary measures need to be taken to ensure that a person is not affected by the radiation which is why replacing them with robots is the next big solution. Which is where the Nu Crawler comes in. This machine can climb completely vertical and inclined surfaces and detect faults in machinery or be used for regular inspection. It can point out faults in the welding work or any other errors in the machine. This robot can access parts of a machine that just cannot be inspected manually.
4. The Gridbots Stinger
Industry: Power Plants
What It Does: This is a miniature robot that can perform checks and inspect space that is anywhere between 150mm to 5000mm large. It can carry payloads inside hard-to-access pipelines which can help rectify clogs, blockages, or rectify errors. The robot is also waterproof and equipped with cameras so the person in charge can assess the situation remotely if needed while the robot is on the actual site. In a hazardous power plant environment, these robots can secure human lives. There are also autonomous modes available on the robot.
Revenue and Growth:
The initial operations for Gridbots have kicked into through funding of Rs. 10 lakh from the Union Government’s Science and Technology Department.
Because of Gridbots’ inventive offering of products it now holds tenders in various Public Sector Units. The company supplies and earns its revenue from various industry deals and sales. Clients of Gridbots include the Indian Navy, ONCG and the Institute of plasma research. Small and medium enterprise sector also take a sizeable chunk of the Gridbots revenue section.
Growth and The Future:
The company is now 72 members strong and has offices in cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi and Bangalore. Since its first funding from the Union Government, the company has been on its own, operating on revenues. Gridbots has an estimated annual revenue of $2.6 million USD and the graph is only predicted to go upwards.
Rural students often face problems in
reading, and understanding simple text books in Hindi and English. To overcome
this challenge, Google has come up with an app called Bolo, which aims at
helping primary school children read and learn smoothly. The app aims to aid
students improve their Hindi and English reading abilities. The beta version of
Bolo is operational in an offline mode.
As per the ASER 2018, only 27.2% of class
III students were able to read the text books meant for class II students,
while only 50.3% of class V students were able to read the books prescribed to
class III students. “Learning gaps have serious implications on the future of
the child,” says Nitin Kashyap, product manager, Google. Bolo will soon be
available in other regional languages too.
“Efforts are being made to bridge the learning gap, but the pace has been slow.
Three major roadblocks include lack of access to quality education, limited
infrastructure and barriers to learn outside the classrooms,” Nitin adds.
Using this speech-technology based app, kids
can read interesting stories, learn new words and its pronunciation all by
themselves. There are about 50 and 40 stories in Hindi and English,
respectively. These stories are available free of cost. With the help of
built-in reading buddy – Diya, the app aims to inculcate reading habit among
students. Diya not only reads the text aloud when needed, but also explains the
meaning of English text in Hindi. At the end of the story, children can play
interesting word games and earn in-app awards.
