Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) announced that it is expanding its portfolio for its silicon root-of-trust solution, Authenta, making its cloud-based internet of things (IoT) security offerings more widely accessible. Micron is enabling Authenta in a family of Serial Peripheral Interface NOR (SPI-NOR) devices with increased density and packaging options and unveiling the Authenta Cloud Platform to help enterprises deploy and scale trust-based security at the intelligent edge. The company is also collaborating with security solutions expert Swissbit AG and new customer SanCloud as Authenta gains further traction in the market.
“As the IoT market expands, strong cybersecurity at the intelligent edge is becoming even more critical to broad deployment,” said Kris Baxter, corporate vice president and general manager of Micron’s Embedded Business Unit. “With this expansion of our cybersecurity portfolio, introduction of our cloud platform and ecosystem momentum, Authenta is fast becoming a key enabler of IoT trust, helping to deliver secure cloud services at the edge – underpinned by strong hardware security.”
Authenta portfolio growth extends hardware security and services to broader range of devices
As the threat landscape evolves with sophisticated bad actors and hacks on IoT devices ranging from cardiac devices to routers, cybersecurity is often a weak link in broader IoT adoption. Micron’s silicon-based security solution, Authenta, helps facilitate vital cybersecurity operations for IoT and industrial edge with an edge-to-cloud trust solution that is simpler, more robust and more convenient than earlier methods.
Enabling Authenta on a full family of SPI-NOR devices brings customers greater choice and versatility. This includes new availability of automotive and industrial-grade options, 128Mb to 256Mb memory sizes, 1.8 volts (V) to 3V, and a wide selection of packaging options that include wafer-level chip scale, ball grid array, SO16 and WPDFN. These new offerings allow Authenta technology to be more easily integrated into a growing array of industry-standard servers, automotive, industrial IoT and consumer systems, such as wireless routers and smart home appliances.
Through its silicon root of trust, Authenta provides a unique level of protection for the lowest layers of IoT software. Starting with the boot process, Authenta uses strong cryptographic identity and secure element features directly embedded in the flash memory.
Micron’s newly announced Authenta Cloud Platform incorporates the capabilities of its existing Authenta Key Management Service and adds new billing and ordering functionality to streamline essential operations required by edge services via cloud-based infrastructure. Authenta Cloud Platform’s new end-to-end capabilities allow Micron’s customers to scale and pay for these cybersecurity services in one streamlined cloud platform, in addition to providing them with the ability to pass down these simplified onboarding and automated billing capabilities to end customers. These robust platform capabilities allow 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.
Authenta ecosystem adoption illustrates expanding market opportunities for IoT security
As Micron’s Authenta gains more traction in the market, new customers such as SanCloud are integrating Authenta flash in its BeagleBone® Enhanced Single Board Computer systems to deliver device management and secure data analytics for applications such as connected lighting, automotive gateways and preventative machine maintenance. SanCloud’s BeagleBone Enhanced systems are highly capable embedded devices with a blend of on-board sensors, wireless connectivity, I/O and processing power used by a varied range of industrial customers. SanCloud’s SanTrack IoT cloud solution uses the Authenta Cloud Platform to activate, gain control and configure the security functions of the Authenta flash and ensures the trust and security of these embedded devices from the manufacturing stage to secure onboarding to deployment.
The addition of Micron Authenta to SanCloud’s devices opens up a range of powerful security features for SanCloud customers including secure boot, golden image locking, memory block allocation, secure over-the-air updates and device integrity monitoring.
Swissbit, a leading European security and memory solution provider for IoT applications, and Micron are also now collaborating to embed Authenta technology in Swissbit’s security and storage solutions for IoT and industrial markets — bringing Micron’s unique silicon root-of-trust security features to Swissbit’s broad base of customers across areas such as industrial automation, automotive, IoT, medical, networking and communication. The first Swissbit storage product with integrated Authenta technology will be a microSD card, ideal for retrofitting IoT systems. An embedded product, eMMC, will follow later.
The integration of Authenta’s secure element features in Swissbit’s flash storage modules gives Swissbit customers the ability to use the Authenta Cloud Platform for its simplified silicon-to-cloud onboarding and authentication capabilities.
“IoT applications demand the highest level of security to store, process and protect sensitive data and thus to power vital operations across broad industrial segments,” said Hubertus Grobbel, vice president of security solutions at Swissbit. “Micron’s silicon root-of-trust security features combined with Authenta Cloud Platform deepen our cybersecurity offerings and will equip our customers with a hardware foundation they need to deliver rigorous security and trust at the edge.”
Authenta is currently implemented in proof-of-concept deployments in the field with end customers around the world.