Cryptography Enables Turnkey Security for Connected Devices

Developers of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and connected embedded systems can now design in an added level of trust while also bringing their products to market faster, according to a recent release from Maxim Integrated products.

With the increase in cyberattacks to critical connected infrastructures, security can no longer be an afterthought in system design. In a recent survey conducted by Electronic Design of 2,200 electronic engineers, 60 percent of respondents said security in their products is very important, and 96 percent think that security will either have the same or more importance for their products.

The newly announced Maxim MAXQ1061 is designed with an integrated comprehensive cryptographic toolbox that provides full support for a wide spectrum of security needs, ranging from key generation and storage, to digital signature and encryption up to SSL/TLS/DTLS. It can also support secure boot for most host processors. To withstand extreme industrial environments, the MAXQ1061 is tested to operate from -40 degrees to more than 109 degree Celsius and is available in TSSOP-14.

“The MAXQ1061 provides a hardware root of trust; its comprehensive set of cryptographic functions fulfill the key security requirements of the embedded systems of tomorrow,” said Christophe Tremlet, Executive Business Manager, Embedded Security, Maxim Integrated. “With the MAXQ1061, our customers have a trusted device that will not only guarantee the integrity and authenticity of the system, but also secure communications.”

The MAXQ1061 embeds 32KB of user programmable secure EEPROM for storing certificates, public keys, private and secret keys, and arbitrary user data. The EEPROM is managed through a flexible filesystem, enabling custom security policy enforcement. Its cryptographic algorithms include ECC (up to NIST P-521), ECDSA signature generation and verification, SHA-2 (up to SHA-512) secure hash, AES-128/-256 with support for ECB, CBC, and CCM modes, and MAC digest. The MAXQ1061 also provides a separate hardware AES engine over SPI, supporting AES-GCM and AES-ECB modes, and that can be used to off-load a host processor for fast stream encryption.

“The MAXQ1061 provides ideal hardware security to complement our software solution for the Floodgate Defender Appliance allowing customers to easily secure their legacy equipment economically,” said Ernie Rudolph, EVP, Icon Labs.