Page 638 - (ISC)² CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide

Another extension of cyber-physical systems, embedded systems, and
network-enabled devices is that of the Internet of Things (IoT). As

discussed earlier, the IoT is the collection of devices that can
communicate over the internet with one another or with a control
console in order to affect and monitor the real world. IoT devices
might be labeled as smart devices or smart-home equipment. Many of
the ideas of industrial environmental control found in office buildings
are finding their way into more consumer-available solutions for small
offices or personal homes. IoT is not limited to static location

equipment but can also be used in association with land, air, or water
vehicles or on mobile devices. IoT devices are usually static systems
since they may only run the firmware provided by the manufacturer.

Mainframes are high-end computer systems used to perform highly
complex calculations and provide bulk data processing. Older
mainframes may be considered static environments because they were
often designed around a single task or supported a single mission-

critical application. These configurations didn’t offer significant
flexibility, but they did provide for high stability and long-term
operation. Many mainframes were able to operate for decades.

Modern mainframes are much more flexible and are often used to
provide high-speed computation power in support of numerous virtual
machines. Each virtual machine can be used to host a unique OS and

in turn support a wide range of applications. If a modern mainframe is
implemented to provide fixed or static support of one OS or
application, it may be considered a static environment.

Game consoles, whether home systems or portable systems, are
potentially examples of static systems. The OS of a game console is
generally fixed and is changed only when the vendor releases a system
upgrade. Such upgrades are often a mixture of OS, application, and

firmware improvements. Although game console capabilities are
generally focused on playing games and media, modern consoles may
offer support for a range of cultivated and third-party applications.
The more flexible and open-ended the app support, the less of a static
system it becomes.

In-vehicle computing systems can include the components used to