Securing a Prankster Robot: Linux Security Strategies to Prevent Rogue AI

Introduction

Imagine a world where robots entertain us at theme parks, birthday parties, or public events. Now, imagine one of these robots is a mischievous clown robot designed to perform pranks—like blowing bubbles at unsuspecting guests.

While it sounds fun, what happens if the clown robot goes rogue and starts pranking everyone uncontrollably? What if its bubble gun malfunctions and sprays foam at VIP guests or clogs an important event stage?

This article outlines a security architecture leveraging Linux security policies, encryption, and strict access controls to prevent unintended behavior while ensuring the system operates as expected.

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Table of Contents

1. The Clown Robot Setup
2. Securing the Important Modules
3. Securing the Code
   • Protecting the Prank Safety Protocol
   • Restricting Execution with systemd and sudoers
4. Friend and Foe Logic Security
5. The Camera Logic: Isolation & Security
6. Bubble Gun Security: Validating Prank Requests
7. Overall Security Strategy
8. Final Thoughts: Preventing an AI Takeover

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The Clown Robot Setup

Our clown robot has the following capabilities:

• Facial Recognition – Scans faces to identify people.
• Friend/Foe Database – Determines if a person is a "prank-friendly" guest or someone who should not be pranked.
• Prank Safety Protocol – Governs whether the bubble gun can activate.
• Bubble Gun Module – Fires bubbles when permitted.

Operational Flow

1. The robot searches its environment and scans faces.
2. The Friend/Foe logic determines if a person is a prank-friendly guest or someone who should not be pranked.
3. If prank permission is granted, the Prank Safety Protocol generates a prank token and wraps it in an encrypted authorization token before sending it to the Bubble Gun.
4. If prank permission is denied, the robot moves on to the next guest.

Now, let's explore how to prevent unauthorized control and ensure that the clown robot does not start spraying bubbles at everyone uncontrollably.

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Securing the Important Modules

Each module must be isolated and protected with strict security measures:

1. The Bubble Gun – Can only fire when properly authorized.
2. The Prank Safety Protocol – Controls when the gun can fire and ensures safety.
3. Friend and Foe Logic – Determines valid prank targets but cannot directly fire the gun.
4. Camera System – Captures images but has no control over firing.

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Securing the Code

Protecting the Prank Safety Protocol

• The prank safety protocol code is stored in a secure, read-only directory.
• The protocol only allows one bubble blast at a time before automatically engaging the safety again.
• Only the root user can modify the prank safety protocol.

Restricting Execution with systemd and sudoers

To ensure that only authorized components can interact with the prank safety protocol:

• A dedicated systemd service manages the prank safety protocol.
• A new user bubble_safety is created with restricted permissions.
• A sudoers rule allows bubble_safety to run the service—but nothing else.
• The bubble_safety user cannot modify code, ensuring that even if compromised, it cannot alter the prank logic.

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Friend and Foe Logic Security

• Runs as a separate service that listens for image processing requests.
• It does not have access to the camera system, preventing manipulation of images.
• If a guest is prank-friendly, it sends an encrypted request to the prank safety protocol.
• The prank safety protocol returns an encrypted prank token.
• The Friend/Foe system never sees the actual prank token, preventing it from spoofing commands.

Extra Security Layer: Wrapping the Prank Token

To prevent interception or misuse of the prank token:

1. The Prank Safety Protocol generates a prank token.
2. It encrypts the token and then wraps it in a separate encrypted authorization token.
3. The Bubble Gun must decrypt the authorization token first to extract the prank token.

Since only the Bubble Gun can decrypt the authorization token, this prevents other components from manipulating the token.

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The Camera Logic: Isolation & Security

• A separate service tracks movement and captures images.
• No access to the prank safety protocol or gun—it simply forwards images.
• Does not process Friend/Foe logic, ensuring it cannot manipulate decisions.

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Bubble Gun Security: Validating Prank Requests

• The bubble gun listens for prank tokens from both the prank safety protocol and Friend/Foe logic.
• To fire, the gun must verify:
  • Sender Identity – Encrypted sender ID validation.
  • Token Expiry – Tokens expire after a short time.
  • Token Matching – The Friend/Foe token must match the Prank Safety Protocol token.
  • Authorization Token Validation – The prank safety protocol’s encrypted token must be decrypted before extracting the prank token.

This multi-step validation ensures that no single system can authorize a prank on its own.

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Overall Security Strategy

1. Camera System

✅ Captures images but cannot access the gun or prank safety protocol.

✅ Does not process Friend/Foe logic, preventing manipulation.

2. Friend and Foe Logic

✅ Cannot access the camera, ensuring image integrity.

✅ Can communicate with the gun but lacks the full prank key.

✅ Cannot modify the prank safety protocol or reuse expired tokens.

3. Prank Safety Protocol

✅ Has access to the gun but only generates a wrapped authorization token.

✅ Cannot forge Friend/Foe verification tokens.

✅ Runs as a protected systemd service with restricted execution.

4. Bubble Gun

✅ Only fires when it receives a valid decrypted prank token.

✅ Validates both the prank token and the authorization token.

✅ Cannot be activated without explicit authorization.

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Final Thoughts: Preventing an AI Takeover

To further harden security, implementing SELinux or AppArmor can restrict processes to their intended permissions.

• SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) can define mandatory access control (MAC) policies to prevent unauthorized access to critical files and services.
• AppArmor can restrict each service to a predefined set of operations, ensuring that even if compromised, they cannot execute arbitrary commands.

By combining system isolation, encryption, token-based authentication, and kernel-level security policies, we ensure that the clown robot remains under strict control—a fun entertainer, not a rogue prankster.

🔐 Security in robotics isn’t just about preventing rogue AI—it’s about ensuring systems operate as designed, without unintended consequences.