If you’re like me, building pre-embedded systems for industries ranging from industrial IoT to medical devices, the quiet moment that makes your chest tight isn’t a missed launch date—it’s the one you spent 10 hours debugging a firmware bug, then realized: the data that travels from your pre-embedded module to the host, to the cloud, and to the end user, is sitting in unencrypted packets on the wire. For years, I watched too many of our clients cut corners on data transmission security, assuming that pre-embedded systems, often small, low-power, or deployed in remote locations, were too insignificant to target. That was a mistake. By 2023, IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report found that breaches in IoT and pre-embedded systems cost an average of $4.4 million per incident—higher than any other sector—and 60% of those breaches stemmed from unprotected in-transit data. As a pre-embedded system supplier, that’s not just a client problem—it’s our problem, too. Our modules are often the first (and sometimes only) line of connectivity between a physical asset and the digital world, so we can’t just ship a “secure enough” device and call it a day. We have to build security into how data moves, not just how it’s stored. Pre-embedded
Let’s start with the unique constraints of pre-embedded systems that make standard cybersecurity tools useless. Unlike desktop computers or even full-sized servers, pre-embedded modules typically run on 32-bit microcontrollers with limited RAM (often less than 512KB) and processing power. You can’t load a full TLS 1.3 stack on a module built for a battery-powered sensor that lasts 10 years on a single coin cell. You also can’t patch them easily: many of our modules are deployed in hard-to-reach locations, like oil rigs in the middle of the ocean, medical implants inside a patient’s body, or agricultural sensors spread across 1,000 acres of farmland. Over-the-air (OTA) updates are possible, but if you mess up the security of the update channel itself, you’re giving hackers a backdoor to take over every device you ship. That means any security solution we design has to be lean, long-lived, and hardened against the very specific threats that target pre-embedded systems: eavesdropping on unencrypted Wi-Fi or LoRaWAN transmissions, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks that spoof legitimate servers to steal data, and rogue firmware updates that disable security features.
First, let’s talk about authentication: not just basic device identification, but mutual authentication. A lot of pre-embedded systems only authenticate the server—they send data over HTTP without verifying that the recipient is actually the service provider, not a hacker pretending to be. That’s how ransomware gangs have hijacked industrial IoT sensors: they spoofed the cloud server address, intercepted unencrypted temperature data from factory sensors, and held the entire production line hostage. Mutual authentication means both the pre-embedded module and the server prove their identity to each other before any data is transmitted. For our modules, we use lightweight asymmetric key pairs instead of bulky certificates. X.509 certificates are great for large systems, but they’re too big (some are 2KB or more) for a module with only 128KB of flash. Instead, we implement Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with NIST-approved curves like secp256r1, which generates keys that are just 256 bits long—small enough to store in a dedicated secure element on the module, no extra memory required. Every module leaves our factory with a unique, burned-in key pair that can’t be extracted or modified without physical access to the secure element. We also tie these keys to a certificate revocation list (CRL) that our cloud providers update in real time: if a module is lost, stolen, or compromised, we can immediately revoke its key so it can no longer connect to any network. One of our early clients, a manufacturer of precision agricultural sensors, switched from server-only authentication to mutual ECC authentication in 2021. In the two years since, they’ve had zero MitM incidents, compared to three in the 18 months before.
Next, encryption in transit—not just using TLS 1.3, but tailored to pre-embedded power and bandwidth constraints. TLS 1.3 is a huge improvement over older versions, but its standard cipher suites can still be too resource-heavy for low-power modules. We’ve optimized our modules to use only lightweight cipher suites that meet NIST SP 800-131A standards (the gold standard for U.S. federal government cybersecurity for IoT). For short-range transmissions, like between a sensor module and a local gateway, we use AES-CCM, a mode of AES that’s designed for small devices and provides both encryption and authentication in one step—saving processing power and time. For long-range transmissions to the cloud, like LoRaWAN or 5G, we use ChaCha20-Poly1305, which performs better on devices without hardware AES acceleration (a common feature in older 32-bit microcontrollers). We also enforce perfect forward secrecy (PFS) on every connection: that means if a hacker ever extracts a module’s long-term private key, they can’t use it to decrypt any past or future data transmissions. PFS works by generating a unique ephemeral session key for every connection, so each session’s key is only used once and discarded immediately after the data is sent. A common mistake we see suppliers make is using a static key for all connections, which is like using the same password for every account—if one gets hacked, all your data is exposed. We also disable weak TLS versions entirely: no TLS 1.0, no TLS 1.1, no unencrypted HTTP. Our modules will reject any connection that doesn’t use TLS 1.3 or the optimized lightweight cipher suites we’ve built.
Then there’s the hard part: securing the update channel, because pre-embedded systems can’t be patched easily. Most pre-embedded module breaches happen not because of a flaw in the data transmission itself, but because a hacker tricked a device into installing a malicious firmware update. In 2022, a group of researchers exposed a vulnerability in a popular line of industrial sensors that let hackers send a fake OTA update, which then gave them full access to all data from the devices. To prevent that, we built three layers of security into our OTA update process. First, all update files are signed with the same ECC keys we use for mutual authentication—no unsigned updates are allowed. The module will only install an update if the signature matches the unique key burned into its secure element. Second, we use a delta update system, which only sends the changes between the old firmware and the new firmware, not the full file. Delta updates are smaller, so they use less power and less bandwidth, and they’re harder to reverse-engineer because the full firmware is never transmitted. Third, we have a rollback mechanism: if a module tries to install an update that fails a signature check, or crashes mid-install, it automatically rolls back to the last working version of firmware, with all security features intact. We also test every update for 30 days in a staging environment, including simulating MitM attacks and rogue update attempts, before rolling it out to clients. One of our clients, a medical device maker, had to update their pre-embedded modules to add a new blood glucose monitoring feature. Before we implemented our OTA security system, they would have had to send a technician to every 2,000 devices scattered across clinics in Europe and North America, costing over $500,000. With our secure OTA system, they rolled out the update in 72 hours, with zero security incidents.
We also can’t ignore edge cases: modules deployed in unregulated environments, where physical tampering is a risk. A thief who steals a pre-embedded sensor from a construction site or a farm can try to extract its key to intercept data. That’s why we build physical security features into every module: the secure element that stores keys is sealed with tamper-evident coatings, and if someone tries to open the module and access the element, it permanently erases all keys and data. We also randomize key generation: no two modules leave our factory with the same key pair, and we never store a copy of a module’s private key on our servers. Private keys are stored exclusively on the module’s secure element, so even if our servers get hacked, the keys can’t be stolen. That’s a rule we enforced from day one, and it’s saved us from countless potential breaches. Last year, a client of ours in the energy sector had a module stolen from a wind turbine site. They reported the theft, and we revoked that module’s key within 10 minutes. The thief never could have used that module to access sensitive turbine data, because the key was erased when they tried to open it, and our CRL blocked any new connections.
Now, let’s talk about what we’re doing next, because pre-embedded security is always evolving. We’re working on quantum-resistant cryptography, because current ECC and RSA standards will be vulnerable to quantum computers in the next 10 to 15 years. Pre-embedded modules have a long lifespan—many of them are expected to operate for 15 or more years—so we can’t wait until quantum computers are mainstream to upgrade. We’re partnering with NIST to test post-quantum algorithms like CRYSTALS-Kyber, which is optimized for small devices, and integrating it into our modules so clients can have a seamless upgrade path. We’re also adding zero-trust capabilities to our pre-embedded systems, which is a shift from the old model of “trust the device once it’s on the network.” Zero-trust means every data transmission, even between a module and a gateway, is authenticated and encrypted, and access to data is granted only on a need-to-know basis. For example, a module that only collects temperature data from a warehouse won’t be able to access inventory control systems, even if a hacker compromises the module.
But here’s the thing: as a pre-embedded system supplier, security isn’t just a technical feature—it’s a promise to our clients. We don’t just sell modules; we sell peace of mind that the data their systems collect, transmit, and store is safe. Too many suppliers cut corners on security to keep costs down, but that’s a false economy. The cost of a breach is far higher than the cost of building security into the module from the start. For us, it’s about learning from our early mistakes: in 2019, we shipped a line of industrial sensors that used unencrypted HTTP for data transmission, and a client had a breach that cost them $2.2 million. We rebuilt the module’s security from the ground up, and we’ve never made that mistake again.
If you’re a developer, an engineer, or a business owner working with pre-embedded systems, and you’re struggling with how to secure data transmission without draining power, extending development timelines, or breaking your budget, we’re here to help. We’ve built our modules with security at their core, from the secure element that stores keys to the optimized ciphers for low-power devices, and we tailor our solutions to your specific use case—whether you’re building medical implants, agricultural sensors, industrial IoT gateways, or any other pre-embedded system. To discuss your unique data transmission security needs and find the right solution for your project, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Glass Sealant References
IBM Security. (2023). Cost of a Data Breach Report. IBM.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2015). SP 800-131A Revision 1: Transitioning the Use of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Lengths. NIST.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2023). Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization: CRYSTALS-Kyber. NIST.
Pope, L., et al. (2022). "Vulnerabilities in Over-the-Air Firmware Updates for Industrial IoT Sensors." Proceedings of the 2022 IoT Security Conference.
Shandong Weiran Building Materials Co., Ltd.
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