We had an interesting presentation last month given by Allan Pead from Microsoft on the open source platform from Microsoft Azure Sphere – a secure IoT platform.
Allan Pead.
Allan is currently an Xamarin MVP (most valuable professional), a Microsoft Azure MVP and a Microsoft Development Technologies MVP. He is based in Cape Town and is a systems architect and software developer with more than 20 years’ experience. What excites him is any project that involves mobile or IoT-related devices.
Allen started by explaining the risks involved when using an IoT platform. One of the examples he showed was an attack where a hacker hijacked thousands of devices to do a denial-of-service attack on the US government. The attackers targeted specific services and used each device to request information from that service. As multiple devices were used, the service was easily overloaded preventing other users from accessing it.
He then explained how Azure Sphere technology was developed by Microsoft, utilising hardware certification and built-in firewalls to secure devices. It is regularly updated with new security features, which Microsoft will support for many years to come, allowing designers to develop more secure solutions.
He then started explaining where and how a person would start when developing a new application. This included an overview of the applications used to develop the software and a short introduction to some of the developer kits available.
This interesting presentation informed attendees about the Azure Sphere Technology and what they might need to start their own secure projects. The branch thanks Allan for presentating and Microsoft for making the presentation possible.
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