NXP Semiconductors N.V., a leading provider of secure Internet-of-Things (IoT) embedded solutions serving customers across a broad spectrum of applications and markets, introduced its new A71CH Secure Element (SE), a trust anchor, ready-to-use security solution for next-generation IoT devices, such as edge nodes and gateways. Designed to secure peer-to-peer or cloud connections, the chip comes with the required credentials pre-injected for autonomous cloud onboarding and peer-to-peer authentication. The solution is a Root of Trust (RoT) at the silicon level, with security functionalities such as encrypted key storage, key generation and derivation to protect private information and credentials for mutual authentication.
“Companies are now beginning to understand the importance of securing IoT devices and connections for future cloud applications and services, but they lack either the knowledge or the right security solution to integrate,” said Philippe Dubois, senior director and general manager IoT security at NXP. “The A71CH comes with all the technical collateral to accommodate a mass market need for security. It is designed to provide a Root of Trust with the needs and demands to grow and evolve the IoT market.”
Security-by-Design for the IoT
Unique to the chip, is its ‘Plug & Trust” approach supporting easy integration of security and cloud onboarding, e.g., through host libraries and a development kit compatible to different NXP microcontrollers (MCU and MPU) platforms such as Kinetis and i.MX. Also, example codes and various application notes are available to streamline the design process.
Thanks to the collaboration with Data I/O, a world’s leading provider of security provisioning and device programming systems, customers further benefit from an easy personalization service on the A71CH for any quantities in addition to NXP’s trust provisioning service. Consequently, the new security IC gives developers, even with limited security expertise, freedom to innovate and deploy secure solutions.
The A71CH provides the following set of key features:
- Protected access to credentials
- Encrypted/authenticated interface to host processor
- Certificate-based TLS set-up (NIST P-256)
- TLS set-up using pre-shared secret (TLS-PSK)
- Connectionless message authentication (HMAC)
- ECC key generation & signature verification
- Symmetric key derivation
- Encrypted vault for product master secrets (key wrapping, derivation, locking)
- Encrypted key injection
The new A71CH supports NXP’s vision to drive intelligent and secure implementations of edge computing applications. The device builds on the company’s market-proven identification portfolio, which has already seen much success in the authentication, payment, transit and access market.
NXP at Embedded World and IoT Edge Corridor Experience
The A71CH is designed for use in the smart home and industrial applications including sensor networks, gateways, IP cameras, smart cities and home appliances. NXP will showcase its latest solutions including the A71CH for mutual authentication and cloud onboarding, connected cars, and industrial systems at Embedded World 2018 at the NXP booth, #4A-220.
