All-in-One Vs. Point Tools For Security


Security remains an urgent concern for builders of any system that might tempt attackers, but designers find themselves faced with a bewildering array of security options. Some of those are point solutions for specific pieces of the security puzzle. Others bill themselves as all-in-one, where the whole puzzle filled in. Which approach is best depends on the resources you have available and y... » read more

Detect And Prevent Security Vulnerabilities In Your Hardware Root Of Trust


Hardware is at the root of the trust chain. Software runs on chipsets in every system meaning that if the hardware itself is not secure the most advanced software-level defenses can still be circumvented. However, it is important to emphasize that analyzing hardware in isolation also does not guarantee system-level security. Composing different parts of a system together can result in vulnerabi... » read more

MACsec Fundamentals: Securing Data in Motion


For end-to-end security of data and devices, data must be secured both when it as rest (stored on a connected device) and when it is in motion (communicated between connected devices). For data at rest, a hardware root of trust anchored in silicon provides that foundation upon which all device security is built. Similarly, MACsec security anchored in hardware at the foundational communication l... » read more

Securing Smart Connected Homes With OTP NVM IP


The market for piracy is huge and hackers have become increasingly sophisticated even when security is implemented in hardware. The race between the aggressors and protectors is a battle without end. Smart connected home devices are increasingly storing and processing very sensitive and private user data in addition to attempting to deliver copyright protected content from service providers. Pr... » read more

Bricked IoT Devices Are Casualties Of Lax Semiconductor Security


Earlier this summer, a new strain of destructive malware known as Silex began to spread and effectively brick unprotected IoT devices. Although victims of Silex theoretically can resurrect their IoT devices by manually reinstalling factory firmware, most remain wary of an installation process that is often time consuming and complicated. Moreover, many victims assume their device has suffered a... » read more

Week in Review: Iot, Security, Automotive


IoT STMicroelectronics is now supporting LoRaWAN firmware updates over the air (FUOTA) in the STM32Cube ecosystem. Microsoft is adding ANSYS Twin Builder to its Microsoft Azure Digital Twins software, which companies use to create digital twins of machinery and IoT devices that are deployed in remotely. The digital replica of actual devices helps companies predict when maintenance is needed... » read more

Smarter than a Smart Card


Set-top boxes (STBs) were initially secured by Conditional Access System (CAS) smart cards. However, this approach is no longer effective. Smart cards cannot prevent unauthorized access to premium 4K and UHD content, as they are not designed to protect the interface between the card and box, or the STB SoC itself. This is one of the reasons why cardless CAS set-top boxes, equipped with a hardwa... » read more

Full Disk Encryption of Solid State Drives and Root of Trust


File encryption, file system encryption and full disk encryption (FDE) are methods offered by the industry to allow users to protect their data stored on non-volatile storage devices, such as Solid State Disks (SSD). The main feature of FDE is to protect stored system and user date from unauthorized reading, writing, alteration, moving or rolling back. However, extended security feature... » read more

Is The IoT Safe To Use?


By Ernest Worthman & Ed Sperling Data security has been a problem since well before the invention the computer, and it has been getting progressively more difficult to contain every year for the past eight decades. It was made much worse when computing was decentralized with the introduction of the IBM PC in 1981, made worse again when networking was introduced into corporations by Novell'... » read more

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