The embedded ecosystem is evolving rapidly, and keeping track of the most important developments has become increasingly difficult, especially outside of our current main interests. Over the past year,there have been important changes in the state of regulation, cryptography, tooling and software supply chain practices. In this talk, Marta will present a curated overview of the key trends that marked the year across both Linux and RTOS-based platforms.

The session will highlight the impact of the EU Cyber Resilience Act on embedded development, recent progress in post-quantum cryptography, the growing influence of AI-assisted tooling, and notable changes in compilers and hardening features. It will also cover the state of vulnerability reporting, examples of high-impact security issues affecting embedded systems, and the maintainership challenges that arise as long-standing maintainers get closer to reaching retirement.

All topics will be supported with concrete references to articles, software releases and conference talks, giving attendees a clear and actionable picture of where embedded security is heading and what to pay attention to in the coming year.