Semiconductors play a vital role in enhancing the security of embedded systems by providing hardware-based solutions that offer strong protection against various threats. Embedded systems, often used in critical applications such as IoT devices, automotive systems, industrial control, and medical equipment, can benefit significantly from semiconductor-based security features.

Here are several ways in which semiconductors enhance embedded system security:

Integrated Security Functions in Microcontrollers:

Security Features in MCUs: Modern microcontrollers (MCUs) often integrate multiple security features, such as secure boot, memory encryption, tamper detection, and trusted execution environments (TEEs) directly into silicon. This integration reduces the need for external security modules and provides a compact, cost-effective security solution for embedded systems.

Isolation and Sandboxing: Semiconductors in MCUs can also implement isolated environments (such as ARM TrustZone or Intel SGX) to securely run sensitive applications separate from less secure parts of the system, protecting critical functions from potential threats in less trusted areas of the device.

Hardware-based Cryptographic Operations:

Secure Key Storage and Management: Semiconductors such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) and Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) provide dedicated hardware for secure key generation, storage, and management. These components prevent the extraction of cryptographic keys, ensuring that sensitive data remains secure even if the device is physically compromised.

Encryption Acceleration: Specialized semiconductor chips can accelerate cryptographic operations (like AES, RSA, and elliptic curve cryptography), providing high-performance encryption and decryption processes while ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of data.

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs):

Unique Device Identity: Semiconductors can incorporate Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs), which generate unique identifiers based on the microscopic physical variations in the semiconductor’s manufacturing process. These unique identifiers are nearly impossible to replicate, providing strong authentication and device identification, crucial for anti-counterfeiting and secure communication.

Key Generation: PUFs can be used for generating cryptographic keys, offering a hardware-based method for securely deriving secrets that cannot be copied or cloned.

Secure Boot Processes:

Root of Trust: Semiconductors enable a secure boot process, which is critical for ensuring that embedded systems load only trusted firmware and software. At startup, the semiconductor checks the integrity of the firmware using cryptographic methods, preventing malicious code or unauthorized software from being executed.

Hardware-based Secure Boot: Secure boot mechanisms, often supported by secure elements (SE) or microcontrollers with embedded security features, verify that the firmware hasn’t been tampered with before execution begins.

Tamper Resistance and Anti-Tamper Features:

Tamper Detection: Modern semiconductor components are designed to detect physical tampering. For example, certain secure elements have built-in mechanisms that sense when a device is being physically attacked or opened. Upon detecting tampering, the system can trigger a self-destruction process to erase sensitive data, making it unreadable to unauthorized entities.

Shielding and Coating: Semiconductor chips often incorporate physical protections like tamper-evident coatings or encapsulation, making it harder for attackers to access the chip or alter its functions.

Security Updates and Patch Management:

Secure Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates: Semiconductors enable secure OTA firmware updates by encrypting the update process and validating the integrity of the firmware before it is installed. This ensures that only legitimate updates are applied, protecting devices from malware or exploits.

Rollback Protection: Semiconductor solutions can also prevent attackers from rolling back firmware to earlier, vulnerable versions, providing another layer of protection against exploits targeting older, unpatched firmware.

Integrated Access Control:

Secure Storage for Credentials: Semiconductor-based components such as secure elements or trusted platform modules can store access control information (e.g., usernames, passwords, certificates) in a secure, isolated environment. This prevents unauthorized users or attackers from accessing or modifying credentials.

Biometric Security: Some advanced semiconductor chips integrate biometric sensors (fingerprint, facial recognition) to authenticate users before granting access to sensitive systems, adding another layer of security to embedded systems.

Device Authentication and Anti-Cloning

Chip-based Authentication: Semiconductors provide robust authentication mechanisms, ensuring that embedded devices can verify each other’s identity before establishing a communication link. Digital certificates or device-specific keys stored in secure hardware modules allow embedded systems to securely authenticate each other in a network, preventing unauthorized access.

Anti-counterfeiting: Semiconductor-based unique identifiers, such as those provided by PUFs, can be used to verify whether devices are genuine or counterfeit, protecting the integrity of the supply chain.

Data Encryption and Secure Communication:

Hardware-based Secure Protocols: Semiconductor chips can facilitate secure communication protocols, such as TLS/SSL or IPSec, directly in hardware. This allows devices to securely communicate over untrusted networks while reducing the computational load on the main processor.

Hardware-accelerated VPNs: Semiconductors can support hardware-accelerated Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and other secure tunneling protocols, ensuring that data transmitted between edge devices and the cloud remains encrypted and protected from interception or man-in-the-middle attacks.

Isolation of Critical Functions

Hardware Isolation: Semiconductors can provide hardware-based isolation of critical functions within embedded systems, ensuring that sensitive operations (such as cryptographic operations, key storage, and authentication) are protected from less secure parts of the system, reducing the attack surface.

Dedicated Security Processors: Many modern embedded systems include dedicated security processors that are isolated from the main CPU and handle security tasks independently, improving overall system security.

Data in Rest Security:

Encrypted flash storage: Refers to the use of encryption techniques to secure data stored on flash.

Disk encryption: It is the process of converting data stored on a disk (such as a hard drive or solid-state drive) into an unreadable format unless the user has the proper decryption key or password.

Secure Version of Stack Support:

Ensuring secure authenticity and secure communication is essential for all the embedded peripherals and interfaces, especially when utilizing protocols like USB, CAN, I2C, BLE, NFC and Wi-Fi. The semiconductor’s hardware shall support the latest version of the stack.

IME Security Module:

Inline Memory Encryption (IME): It is a technique used to protect data in memory by encrypting it before it is written to the system’s RAM and decrypting it when it is read back.

Custom and Proprietary Hardware:

Bitstream Encryption: Secure FPGA designs by using bitstream encryption to prevent unauthorized access to the FPGA design files.

Disable Debugging Ports:

Disablingdebugging ports (such as JTAG, UART, SWD, and others) is a critical security measure to prevent unauthorized access and tampering with the device’s firmware and data.

Strategic Focus

Future emphasizes integrating advanced AI capabilities directly into edge devices, enhancing security, privacy, and operational efficiency. By processing data locally, their solutions reduce reliance on cloud services, addressing latency concerns and potential security vulnerabilities.

Semiconductors play a crucial role in enhancing hardware-based security features for embedded systems. Adopting a Secure-by-Design for hardware-based security can enhance product security for all the vertical domains such as HealthCare, Aerospace, Automotive, Industrial Control, Oil & Gas, Energy, Consumer Electronics.