Microsemi and Intrinsic-ID deliver integrated security solutions for government apps

USA: Microsemi Corp. announced a product demonstration through its continued relationship with Intrinsic-ID offering top-level security solutions for government applications.

Microsemi's WhiteboxCRYPTO product is a software cryptography library generator that combines mathematical algorithms with data and code obfuscation techniques to transform a sensitive key in complex ways. This requires deep knowledge in multiple disciplines to attack.
The WhiteboxCRYPTO-generated key is never present on disk or in memory, forcing an attacker to reverse engineer a complex library of executable code. WhiteboxCRYPTO comes in two crypto-algorithm variants: WhiteboxAES and WhiteboxRSA.

Beyond simply protecting the cryptography operations in software, an application or key protected with WhiteboxCRYPTO can be bound to silicon by using the Intrinsic-ID Quiddikey product that is based on unique patented hardware intrinsic security (HIS) technology—also referred to as physical unclonable function (PUF).

"Using hardware as a root of trust is a critical layer in any system security solution," said Michael Mehlberg , vice president of product management for Microsemi. "PUF is one of the strongest hardware identifiers available to bind software crypto keys to hardware.

"Quiddikey installs seamlessly in a Microsemi SmartFusion programmable logic solution and strongly binds to a WhiteboxCRYPTO-protected key, forcing an attacker to peel back multiple complex layers of system security."

The main advantages of the Quiddikey SRAM PUF technology come from the fact that SRAM is a standard library component, which is available in every technology node. Another differentiating feature of this security IP is flexible key management; secret keys can be programmed into Quiddikey in a personalization phase by any trusted party in the value chain. This does not necessarily have to be the semiconductor supplier.

"Our IP has earned its stripes in markets and applications where security and reliability demands are second to none," said Pim Tuyls , CEO at Intrinsic-ID. "We have a strong intellectual property rights (IPR) portfolio of more than 10 patents and we continue to move forward in a very active IPR strategy that has resulted in granted patent families on all levels: for our core IP, as well on the level of security architectures, implementations and applications."

The combination of Microsemi's WhiteboxCRYPTO key protection technology with Intrinsic-IDs Quiddikey PUF technology binds sensitive data running in software to a Microsemi SmartFusion programmable logic solution.