EDN’s Stephen Evanczuk recently confirmed that embedded systems face continuous threats by persistent individuals and entities armed with an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of tools.
“On-chip security features do serve as fundamental enablers for secure systems but can provide a false sense of security without a broader view of security policies,” he explained.
“Consequently, the trend toward enterprise-level security lifecycle management emerges as the most promising solution for hardened security in embedded systems underlying the explosive growth of interconnected applications.”
As Evanczuk notes, the Rambus CryptoManager (CM) Security Engine infrastructure addresses this issue by placing a secure appliance in a local manufacturing plant – effectively providing a central host that serves as root authority.
“In operation, the local appliance communicates with the host to facilitate key generation and secure storage within the manufacturing facility,” he continued.
“During device production, the local appliance securely fills keys in the security engine IP built into a customer device. In turn, the security engine block serves as a hardware root of trust for secure operations within the end product.”
According to Evanczuk, manufacturers are now recognizing the need for a broader lifecycle approach to security – where the manufacturer and product developer implement security features that span the entire product lifecycle.
“In fact, security concerns are fueling a cross-pollination of traditional security and industrial sectors,” he concluded.
Interested in learning more? You can read the full text of “Embedded security rises and falls with crypto key management” by Stephen Evanczuk here and check out Rambus’ official CryptoManager page here.
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