Microchip launched a Trust Platform for its CryptoAuthentication family with the ATECC608A secure element at its heart.
The plaform consists of three levels of service to suit the needs of different clients’ budgets, volumes and level of involvement with the security of their devices, through out-of-the-box pre-configured or full-customisable solutions. The platform promises to help customers configure the security of their devices at a significantly lower time frame than the customary 6-months or more, and for volumes as low as only 10 units.
The first solution, or Trust&Go, provides ready-to-go secure authentication for the mass market, yet for as few a units per order as 10. Device credentials are pre-programmed, shipped and locked inside the ATECC608A for automated cloud or LoRaWAN authentication onboarding. In parallel, corresponding certificates and public keys are delivered in a “manifest” file, which is downloadable via Microchip’s purchasing e-commerce store and some of its distribution partners.
The TrustFLEX solution is the second tier in the program, giving customers flexibility to use their own certificate authority whilst still benefiting from pre-configured use cases. These use cases include baseline security measures such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) hardened authentication for connecting to any IP-based network using any certificate chain, LoRaWAN authentication, secure boot, Over-the-Air (OTA) updates, IP protection, user data protection and key rotation.
The last in the family and with the highest level of offering is TrustCustom. It’s for minimum order quantities of 4000 units, with customised approach to development and secure key storage.
The Trust Platform consists of provisioning (configuration), software, hardware, tools and the complete stack solutions. In addition, the platform is also agnostic, i.e. it works for any MCU, any WiFi and any provider of devices, and not just Microchip’s.
When asked will Microchip upgrade its secure element device in the future, Nicolas Demoulin, Microchip EMEA Marketing Manager said: “There’s no need to change our market hero product – the ATECC608 – but we will be introducing other solutions [to the platform] before the end of the year.”
