IoT Security: Swissbit Collaborates with Micron

Swissbit AG announced a technology collaboration with Micron designed to expand the reach of Micron’s Authenta technology for IoT security.

It will integrate Authenta technology into select security and storage solutions, making the root-of-trust secure element features available to its customer base in the industrial automation, automotive, NetCom, and medical technology sectors. The first Swissbit storage product with integrated Authenta technology will be a microSD card, perfect for retrofitting IoT systems. The 2 partners plan to additionally introduce an embedded product in the form of an e.MMC. Further details will be announced by both companies when the products become available.

Providing a level of protection for the lowest layers of IoT devices, Micron’s Authenta technology adds secure element features to flash memory to strengthen system-level security directly on the component that gives billions of IoT devices their identity. By combining device-specific identity that only a hardware root-of-trust can provide and the measurement capability necessary for in-memory secure boot, Authenta technology offers the ingredients necessary to authenticate IoT devices directly with a host – whether in the cloud, at the edge, or on the device. Utilizing existing standard flash memory sockets, developers can strengthen system-level cybersecurity without adding additional hardware components, leading to a more affordable and robust IoT solution. Authenta enables improved system-level cybersecurity, simplified zero-touch onboarding deployments, and future device management capabilities for a range of IoT end points and edge devices that use standard flash memory chips.

“As the IoT market expands, improved cybersecurity at the intelligent edge is becoming even more critical to broad deployment,” said Luis Ancajas, director of the Authenta product line, Micron. “Collaborating with Swissbit allows us to extend the market reach of our unique silicon root-of-trust solution and provides easier access to the hardware security needed for a secure global IoT ecosystem.“

The integration of Authenta’s secure element features in Swissbit’s flash storage modules also gives Swissbit customers the ability to use Authenta cloud platform for its simple silicon-to-cloud onboarding and authentication capabilities. It enables real-time, in-field device authentication across customers’ supply chains and throughout the device lifecycle, building trust and offering an open, scalable foundation to power end-to-end cloud services across the IoT ecosystem.

“IoT systems and applications are processing more and more sensitive data and therefore require the highest level of security. By integrating Micron‘s Authenta root-of-trust security features into Swissbit storage products, we are expanding our security solutions even further, providing customers with an easy-to-integrate hardware foundation to best protect IoT environments and edge devices,” explained Claus Gründel, GM embedded IoT solutions, Swissbit. “This step also perfectly fits into our strategy of working with partners to offer hardware-based security solutions for a wide range of IoT applications, thereby sustainably reducing integration efforts and enabling new cloud-based service models.“