Interview
with Paul Pickle –
President of Microsemi
ARM Delivers
the Future of
Authentication
›
Atmel START
Development
Tool
›
Safeguarding
the
NOVEMBER, 2105
IoT
Microsemi
Secures the World’s
Embedded Systems
CONTENTS
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34
NEWSWIRE
On the Floor:
The 2015 Altera SoC Developers Forum
TECH TRENDS
Tap Tap Tech:
Screen Technology
PRODUCT WATCH
Inside the Lab Overview:
DragonBoard 410c
Atmel START Development Tool
TECH REPORT
ARM Delivers the Future of
Secure Authentication
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Safeguarding the IoT
Interview with Paul Pickle – President of Microsemi
EEWEB FEATURE
Littelfuse Helps Circuit Designers Protect
Small Devices from Big ESDs
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NEWSWIRE
Embedded Developer
Newswire
The Altera SoC Developers Forum (ASDF) is a place for developers
to connect and discuss the future of SoC FPGA technology.
2015 Altera
SoC Developers
Forum
With the rising demands of new, complex applications that drive
technological advancements, the face of the industry is undergoing
a transformation. Data-driven applications are sustaining Moore’s
Law at a healthy rate, but the development costs are soaring,
preventing many from developing their own silicon. To combat
these costs, heterogeneous computing—a combination of
embedding processing accelerated by FPGA fabrics—is proving to
be the best solutions in many different markets.
This year’s ASDF event offered
developers a chance to sit in on keynote
addresses and lectures on the latest
industry challenges and trends. From
the computing systems behind selfdriving vehicles to high-end, wireless
audio equipment systems—the
event offered engineers a chance to
see, first hand, the types of new and
exciting applications that are directly
benefiting from SoC FPGA systems.
Audi A7 Sportback piloted driving concept
550 mile piloted drive from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas
—Photo courtesy Audi
4
Bradley Howe, Senior VP of Altera, was
at the event and spoke to EEWeb about
some of the unique demonstrations he
saw. “Audi’s keynote gave an overview
of their prototype self-driving A8, which
drove from the Bay Area to Las Vegas
recently,” Howe explained. “[The car]
aggressively employed auto-parking, lane
changing, and auto-stop…the automotive
industry has been a lot of fun to watch,
especially if you are interested in cars.”
Click the image below to watch the
full interview with Bradley Howe:
CLICK
To learn more about the 2015 ASDF
Event, visit: https://www.altera.
https://www.altera.com/events/
com/events/northamerica/alteranorthamerica/altera-socsoc-developers-forum/overview.
developers-forum/overview.
highResolutionDisplay.html
highResolutionDisplay.html
5
TECH TRENDS
Embedded Developer
TapTapTech
SCREEN
Technology
I
n this edition of Tap Tap Tech, we’re going
to discuss screen technology. In my own,
personal claim to fame, the first all electronic
television was invented by a family member – my
great grandfather’s cousin, Philo T Farnsworth.
In 1927, at the age of 21, Philo successfully
demonstrated the basic underpinnings of the
cathode ray tube television, which begs the
question—what have I done with my life?
Sponsored by
By Josh Bishop
6
7
Embedded Developer
Anyway, cathode ray tube displays
have been slowly fading out of use
over the last decade but it had been
the undisputed leader for over eighty
years, though with many improvements
in that time. Now, though, flat screens
have dropped significantly in price and
are everywhere as computer monitors,
television screens, phones, watches—
basically everything that needs to display
information. But the new flat screens
operate on a significantly different
principle than the old style CRT and there
is even quite a bit of difference how the
flat screens work among themselves.
CRT screens basically shot an electron
gun at a phosphor-coated screen. The
electron gun shoots the electrons, an
electromagnet around the gun steers
the electrons to hit the appropriate
place on the screen, causing the
phosphor to glow. LCD screens, on the
other hand, are simply a matrix of red,
green, and blue dots that, depending
on whether or not a voltage is
flowing through them, allows light
through them. Now, I’ve noticed
a lot of confusion between LCD
displays, LED displays, and OLED
displays. So, let’s get this straight.
LCD displays, in all their forms, are
backlit. The LCD portion simply allows
8
the backlight through or blocks it—it
doesn’t create any light. When you
hear about LED displays, they’re
talking about switching the backlight
from fluorescent bulbs to LED. This,
in general, gives a more even lighting
and is more energy efficient, but that’s
about it. OLEDs, on the other hand,
are completely different. The sources
of color are the same sources, they’re
basically grids of incredibly small,
colored LEDs. This means that when
you want black, you turn off the light
source instead of trying to block it,
meaning much darker blacks. They’re
also more energy efficient, allow thinner
screens, feature fantastic viewing
angles, have orders of magnitude faster
refresh rates than LCDs, are easier
to flex, and have actually dropped in
price to merely extremely expensive
levels instead of insanely expensive.
This may be an incredibly brief overview
of screens, but it’s obvious that screens
have come an incredibly long way from
their inception and that both size and
resolution are not everything. And
while I am currently highly impressed
with OLED displays, I will admit that in
twenty years, I’ll probably laugh at this
clunky, outdated technology compared
to the incredible images our overlords
transmit directly into our brains.
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on your next project—big or small.
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PRODUCT WATCH
Embedded Developer
INSIDE
THE
LAB
Inside the
LAB
DragonBoard 410c
Inside the Lab is a webseries sponsored by Arrow Electronics
dedicated to exploring the latest in technology and
electronics. In this episode we’ll introduce you to Arrow’s
DragonBoard 410c, a development board for Qualcomm’s
Snapdragon 400 series of SoCs.
Sponsored by Arrow Electronics
10
THE DRAGONBOARD 410C OPERATES ON ANDROID AND LINUX,
WITH PLANNED SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS 10, SO THE USER CAN DEVELOP
FOR ALL THREE PLATFORMS USING A SINGLE HARDWARE PLATFORM.
The DragonBoard complies with the
96boards consumer edition specification
and is based on the Snapdragon 410,
which features a quad-core ARM
Cortex A53 running at up to 1.2 GHz
and a Qualcomm Adreno 306 MHz
GPU. The Cortex A53 is capable of
running 64- and 32-bit code, and
the Adreno GPU offers support for
OpenGL 3.0 ES, OpenCL, and DirectX.
Additional features include an
integrated ISP supporting up to 13MP
cameras, and playback and capture of
1080p/30fps video. The SanDisk eMCP
supplies 8GB of eMMC for storage
and 1GB of DDR3L memory, and the
Qualcomm WCN3620 and onboard
antennas provide GPS, Bluetooth, and
WiFi connectivity. Expansion options
include a high-speed connector, a
low-speed expansion connector,
and an analog expansion connector.
Connectivity includes a microSD slot
for storage, USB on-the-go, USB, and
HDMI, with connectors from FCI.
The DragonBoard 410c operates
on Android and Linux, with support
for Windows 10, so the user can
develop for all three platforms using
a single hardware platform.
Arrow’s DragonBoard 410c brings a
tremendous amount of processing
power and integrated connectivity in a
tiny footprint and is great for developing
nearly any embedded or maker project
you can imagine. For more information,
as well as video demonstration of
the DragonBoard 410c, visit “arrow.
com”: https://www.arrow.com/en/
research-and-events/videos/insidethe-lab-dragonboard-410c.
CLICK
CLICK
11
Embedded Developer
PRODUCT WATCH
Atmel
START
Intuitive Online Tool for
Embedded Software
Projects
Atmel START is a web-based, code
configuration engine that helps users
graphically configure and deploy embedded
software, low-level drivers, middleware
example applications, and reference designs.
12
13
PRODUCT WATCH
Embedded Developer
Atmel developed this tool to help
users configure their MCU projects
that take the foundational code that
typically takes up so much of the
development time. With this web-based
tool the user can choose an MCU and
select I/Os, choose clock parameters,
and add potential peripherals, and it
will automatically create the code.
This will jumpstart the process for
developers by eliminating the arduous
code generation process at the
beginning of most MCU projects.
Through the Atmel START tool, you can
go through three steps in the project
creation process. First, you can select
a pre-existing or custom board from
Atmel’s catalog. In this step, Atmel offers
detailed information for each board
so the user can familiarize themselves
with the different parameters and ideal
uses. Atmel START also offers example
projects for the user to see a project in its
final stages to see the process from start
to finish. These sample projects can also
be reconfigured for other boards, so the
user can see how a similar project would
turn out with a different board selection.
Once Atmel START project loads the
pads, pins, and modules, it will appear
on a graphic user interface for further
editing. By using the dashboard, the
user can select different aspects of
the MCU operation for more detailed
editing. The tool also allows you to
add a software component to look
at code generation and peripheral
setup. Virtually every aspect of the
project can be edited through an
advanced GUI interface, such as pin
designation and component add-on
functionality. Once all the parameters
are selected, the user can export the
software components in a pack.
Since the Atmel START is an online
tool, each step of the process can be
added to the cloud, which allows for
remote teams to work on the same
project no matter where they are. It
also saves the project at every step
of the process so the engineer can
retrace their steps and find the source
of any problems that may arise. Atmel
painstakingly researched, tested, and
14
Click the image below to watch a
video demonstration of the Atmel
http://www.eeweb.com/blog/
START
Tool: http://www.eeweb.com/
eeweb/atmel-start-overview
blog/eeweb/atmel-start-overview
CLICK
VIRTUALLY
EVERY ASPECT
OF THE PROJECT
CAN BE EDITED
THROUGH AN
ADVANCED
GUI INTERFACE,
SUCH AS PIN
DESIGNATION
AND COMPONENT
ADD-ON
FUNCTIONALITY.
Code generator
Clock configurator
Pin configuration
developed ways to ensure the MCU
development process is streamlined,
so engineers can get an easier start
to the project and boost time to
market for any type of design.
Add software
components
15
TECH REPORT
Embedded Developer
In 2014 ARM’s silicon partners shipped
more than 2-billion ARM® Cortex®-A
processor based applications into
phones, tablets, DTV and other smart
connected devices. These devices
are increasingly being used to access
cloud-based services and for highvalue use cases such as payment and
Securing the Future of
Authentication
ARM delivers the
hardware foundations
for simple and strong
authentication
handling of corporate or government
information. To protect system assets
from attack, modern ARM platforms
use a combination of technologies: from
the Cortex core Hypervisor mode, to
the ARM TrustZone®-based TEE and
tamper proof security processors or
secure elements protected with ARM
SecurCore® processor IP. This multilayered or compartmentalized approach
increases overall system security and
provides the right level of protection that
goes beyond the operating system to the
By Rob Coombs, ARM
16
different assets within a mobile device.
17
TECH REPORT
Embedded Developer
The TrustZone based TEE was designed
to deliver enhanced security from
scalable software attacks and common
hardware attacks (so called shack
attacks) at a lower cost to the market. Its
architecture provides isolation between
the normal world (Rich Operating
System and Applications) and a hidden
secure world that can be used for
sensitive operations such as crypto, key
management and integrity checking.
It has become an important hardware
security layer for device manufacturers
that they have been developing and
standardizing over the last ten years
to protect valuable system assets.
The TEE is standardized by
GlobalPlatform,
click here for linkwho have created a
compliance and certification program
so that independent test labs can check
that platforms are protecting against
the threats identified in the protection
profile. GlobalPlatform have
white
papers
click
here
for link
discussing the TEE: this white paper
has been written to add information to
their documents covering the FIDO use
case and ARM TrustZone technology.
The move to password-less login using
biometric authenticators is being
accelerated through standardization
by the FIDO Alliance. FIDO protocols
such as Universal Authentication
Framework (UAF) enable local user
verification with multiple authenticators
such as fingerprint sensors, iris
scanners or PIN entry replacing the
traditional username and password.
It is often said that security is a chain
where security relies on a sequence of
18
linked processes. Using this analogy, the
first link is secure hardware that can be
isolated using TrustZone technology
from the normal world rich execution
environment and be the basis for
trusted boot. Trusted boot initializes
the Trusted OS and therefore the
TEE before booting the normal world
OS. With the TEE established, a FIDO
Trusted App can be provisioned to look
after key material, crypto and other
sensitive operations. This document
looks at why the TrustZone based TEE
architecture is an excellent fit to the
FIDO security requirements and its
role as the de facto base-line security
technology used in smart devices
with integrated authenticators.
The FIDO UAF
Password-less Experience
The consumer with a FIDO enabled
smart device can register once with
their favorite online shopping site or
bank. During the registration process
the device creates a public and a private
key that is specific to the combination
of user, his/her device and the relying
party. Subsequent visits to the online
store then become much easier for the
consumer as they can replace the usual
username/password authentication
step or confirmation of purchase with
a quick swipe of a finger or entering a
simple and memorable PIN code [Fig 1].
No common user information is shared by
the FIDO protocol as its implementation
cannot leak private user information.
As the relying party only holds the
public key it cannot be used directly
by hackers to take over accounts if the
website’s servers are hacked (currently
a major problem in the industry).
Overview of FIDO and
the FIDO Alliance
The FIDO alliance comprises more than
180 members covering the whole value
chain from major silicon partners (such
as Qualcomm), device manufacturers
(such as Samsung and Lenovo), operating
system companies (such as Microsoft and
Google), FIDO server providers (such as
Nok Nok Labs) and relying parties (such as
Bank of America and PayPal). It develops
technical specifications and certification
programs to fulfill its mission to enable
simpler, stronger authentication.
FIDO protocol design is driven from a
desire to improve the ease of use of
authenticators, built-in privacy, security
by design and drive standardization so
that relying parties can use any FIDO
compliant authenticator. Final FIDO
1.0 specifications are availableclick
online
here
and comprise of two alternative user
experiences: Universal Authenticator
Framework (UAF) provides a passwordless experience for devices such as
smartphones with built-in authenticators
and Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) for a
dongle that helps protect traditional
username/password against phishing
attacks. Work is ongoing to have a
unified standard for FIDO 2.0.
Relying parties have been using username
and passwords for years but it has proven
to be unsatisfactory to both consumers
and businesses as passwords have many
problems. Consumers like to choose weak
passwords or reuse them across websites
making it easier for hackers to take over
accounts. If they are forced to choose
complex passwords, they forget them
and transactions may be abandoned.
Worse still, passwords are easily phished
by scam emails allowing financial fraud
on a massive scale: to take one example,
Kaspersky
click here estimates that a phishing gang
stole $1B from a number of banks last
year. Businesses sometimes require use
of a second factor such as a One Time
Password (OTP) token that typically
provides a code to be used alongside
the username/password. The often
proprietary nature of these tokens has
filled consumer’s pockets and drawers
with hardware: you might have one OTP
token for your bank, another for your
work email and others for other service
providers. Another issue for relying
No common
user information
is shared by
the FIDO
protocol as its
implementation
cannot leak
private user
information.
Fig. 1.
A simple FIDO
user experience
19
TECH REPORT
Embedded Developer
The TrustZone
security
extensions work
by providing the
processor with
an additional
‘secure state’ that
allows secure
application
code and data
to be isolated
from normal
operations.
20
parties using traditional authentication
is the need to hold private keys for each
customer. These massive databases
of credentials create a “honeypot”
for hackers who can steal millions of
consumer’s individual credentials with
a single well designed attack. This
creates reputational risk for big brand
companies who may have to admit to a
security breach and ask its customers
to quickly reset their passwords.
is generated on the device for every
combination of user/device/relying
party. For an overview of the FIDO
1.0 specifications please seeclick
here.here
FIDO mitigates the problems with
traditional usernames and passwords
and creates a more delightful consumer
experience at the same time. For
example, on a modern Samsung Galaxy
device it is possible to log onto websites
or pay for things using your fingerprint.
This simple user experience is enabled
by FIDO UAF protocol replacing the
username/password with a built-in
authenticator such as a fingerprint
sensor that unlocks a private key on
the device that is used in a crypto
challenge with the remote server (which
holds the public key). The relying party
also gains metadata providing some
basic information such as the type of
authenticator, key protection mechanism
used and model of device that can be
used in back-end risk analysis. However,
no biometric, PIN information or private
key is exchanged with the online server.
This “Privacy by design” aspect of the
FIDO protocols provides added protection
to the consumer who is less likely to
be troubled by security breaches of the
stores’ server. The crypto challenge is
based on well-established Public Key
Cryptography principles involving the
use of a public/private key pair that
3. To maintain the confidentiality and
integrity of sensitive processes
The FIDO security requirements
can be summarized as:
1. To ensure the integrity of the device
2. To keep key material confidential
from unauthorized access
Threat Landscape
Attacks on devices can come in
many forms, from malware to social
engineering, theft or physical loss
of the device, or improperly secured
devices either through misuse or by
users jail-breaking their devices.
Attacks can be performed by
many different methods, and
malicious software can be installed
by conventional means such as
through a rogue app store, via social
engineering, trojan or by other attack
vectors such as via the browser. When
malware is present on a device it has
the potential to escape its sandbox
or process permissions and any
data held or input into the device
can then become compromised.
Alternatively, if an attacker can gain
physical access to the device, further
attacks become possible. If the
attacker can access the file system
of the device, they can potentially
steal data. If the data is encrypted, the
attacker could copy the data off the
device and perform an offline attack
on the encryption. Whilst software
attacks are often the main threat, it is
important to remember that physical
attacks such as opening the device and
probing the board become possible if
the attacker possesses the phone.
The design of security architecture
conventionally relies on two basic
concepts: the principle of least privilege,
and the partitioning of the system
into protected compartments. For
example, the TrustZone based TEE
is normally designed to maintain its
isolation even if the Normal World
has been compromised. A malicious
hacker may take over the Normal
World and spy on communications to
the TEE, but the Trusted World will
retain its integrity and confidentiality.
TrustZone and the Trusted
Execution Environment
GlobalPlatform standardizes the TEE
[Fig. 2] and generates specifications,
compliance programs and certification
schemes. They have created white papers
providing an insight into the TEE and
how it can provide confidentiality and
integrity for services such as payment,
content protection and dual- persona
devices. For the purposes of brevity,
only a short description is provided
here. A TEE provides a secure enclave
to protect sensitive code and data with
the security promises of integrity and
confidentiality, for example, a malicious
application should not be able to read
the private keys stored on the device. The
TEE is designed to protect against scalable
software attacks and if someone has
stolen your device, from common hardware
attacks sometimes referred to as “shack
attacks” (attacks from a knowledgeable
attacker with access to normal electronic
enthusiast type of equipment).
The TrustZone-based TEE provides
a “Secure World“ where the security
boundary is small enough to offer a route
to certification and provable security. It is
typically used for securing cryptographic
keys, credentials and other secure assets.
TrustZone offers a number of system
security features not available to the
hypervisor: it can support secure debug,
offer secure bus transactions and take
secure interrupts directly into the Trusted
World (useful for trusted input). There
is an argument to restrict the amount
of security functionality in the trusted
world to limit the attack surface and make
certification a practical proposition.
The TrustZone security extensions work by
providing the processor with an additional
‘secure state’ that allows secure application
code and data to be isolated from normal
operations. This partitioning enables a
protected execution environment where
trusted code can run and have access
to secure hardware resources such as
memory or peripherals. Conventionally,
the Trusted World is used with its own
dedicated secure operating system and
a trusted boot flow to form a TEE that
works together with the conventional
operating system, such as Linux® or
Android™, to provide secure services.
21
TECH REPORT
Embedded Developer
Fig. 2.
TrustZone can
provide the hardware
partitioning for a
TEE and access to
secure resources
Security is as strong as the weakest link
in a chain of trust. The starting point of
the chain is the Root of Trust (ROT) that
is normally implemented in hardware
to protect it from modification. Mobile
device integrity starts by resetting
into Secure World and booting from
immutable hardware in the form of a
Read-Only Memory and accessing trusted
hardware resources such as hardware
unique key, random number generators,
counters, timers and trusted memory.
A carefully designed authenticated
trusted boot flow is the basis for device
integrity. The Trusted OS is started as
part of the trusted boot flow before
the Normal World Rich OS is booted.
Specific Role of the TrustZonebased TEE in FIDO Implementations
The TrustZone (Secure World) based
authenticated trusted boot flow and
hardware ROT provides the basis
for device integrity (a reference
implementation of trusted boot can be
found
here).
The Trusted OS can provide
click
here
trusted services for the FIDO protocol,
for example, handling cryptography and
user matching algorithms in a hardware
protected execution environment. In
a typical implementation, nearly all of
the FIDO stack will reside in the normal
world and only small security sensitive
functions are moved into the TEE. The
code moved to the TEE is referred to as
a Trusted App as it benefits from the
security promises of confidentiality
and integrity. This partitioning builds
in resistance to scalable attacks.
A major use case of the TEE is to
provide a secure key store. Since nonvolatile memory is rarely found on an
applications processor, FIDO keys are
encrypted in the TEE with a hardware
unique key burned into the chip. This
encrypted and wrapped key is then
stored in external memory for storage
between boots. Keys would only be
decrypted and used within the TEE and
never accessible to the Normal World.
A FIDO Trusted App could include the
functionality for biometric template
storage and matching. This could be
handled in a similar way to the storage
of crypto keys i.e., encrypted and
wrapped within the TEE and stored
in external non-volatile storage.
The TrustZone-based TEE
provides solutions to the FIDO
security requirements:
1.
To ensure the integrity of the
device:
This is achieved using hardware
roots of trust and a TrustZone
isolated authenticated
trusted boot process.
2. To keep key material confidential
from unauthorized access:
3. The system-wide hardware
isolation provided by the
22
TrustZone architecture extensions
enables a small, security certifiable
TEE to handle key materials. FIDO
keys can themselves be encrypted
using strong cryptography and
fused Hardware Unique Keys.
4. To maintain the
confidentiality and
integrity of sensitive
processes:
The TEE provides the
security promises of integrity
and confidentiality. Typically,
small parts of the FIDO process
will be statically partitioned
into the Trusted World and run
as a Trusted Application.
Please see the Future
enhancements section for
future devices with a Trusted
User Interface (TUI).
4. To maintain the confidentiality of
sensitive input data:
TrustZone enables interrupts
from input devices (such as
authenticators) to be steered
directly to the Trusted World
where trusted device drivers can
handle them. For example, the TEE
can handle touch events from a
touchscreen during PIN capture or
interrupts from a fingerprint sensor
and separate it from malware
in the normal world that would
not be able to intercept it. When
the PIN capture or other input is
complete the interrupts can be
switched back to the normal world.
A FIDO Trusted
App could include
the functionality
for biometric
template storage
and matching.
23
TECH REPORT
Embedded Developer
5. Protection of sensitive display data:
TrustZone can be used to protect a
Trusted World frame-buffer and its
composition. This enables a “what
you see is what you sign/buy” feature
since the frame-buffer cannot be
intercepted, modified or obscured.
Future Enhancements
GlobalPlatform has developed a
protection profile for the TEE that is
being used as the basis for a security
certification program. Multiple test
labs are establishing programs to test
platforms and evaluate the effectiveness
of the TEE they contain. Independent
testing will assure device manufacturers
of the quality of solutions that may
be beneficial to the whole value chain.
Security certification is expected to be
available from the second half of 2015.
Modern ARM-based chips are making
increasingly sophisticated use of
TrustZone technology. One example is
the use of a TUI to protect touchscreen
inputs and the display of protected
frame buffers [Fig. 3]. It is possible
to have peripherals that can switch
between normal world and secure
world: the touchscreen and display are
examples where this might be beneficial.
In PIN capture mode the TEE may
want exclusive trusted access to the
touchscreen which can be returned to
the normal world when PIN capture is
finished. The Display Processor may be
acting as a compositor for the various
graphics layers and required to display
trusted data from the Secure World
to ensure “what you see is what you
get/sign”. Trusted display data can be
generated in a (TrustZone) protected
frame buffer and composed as a secure
layer with protection against overlay.
Adoption of the TUI is expected to
increase when standardization from
GlobalPlatform is completed.
system integrity checks. As secure
elements do not have access to an input
method or display it can be beneficial
to establish secure communications
with the secure element from the
TEE. GlobalPlatform is working on the
standardization of communication
between a secure element and the TEE.
Conclusion
In the future we can expect further
improvements. Device manufacturers
and silicon partners will have the
option to have their TEE’s security
certified by independent test labs. We
can also expect TrustZone technology
to be extended to cover touchscreen
input (for protecting PIN entry) and
display output providing a “what you
see is what you sign/buy” capability.
The TrustZone-based TEE delivers
effective system security at low cost for
FIDO implementations. A well-designed
TEE provides a suitable level of security
for FIDO based implementations
and is a huge improvement over
the username/password normal
world methods it is replacing.
FIDO based authentication is already
deployed at scale and looks set to
become an industry success story
by helping consumers move beyond
passwords. The TrustZone-based TEE
demonstrates that when security
is well architected it can deliver
delightful user experiences.
It is possible
to have
peripherals
that can switch
between normal
world and
secure world:
the touchscreen
and display are
examples where
this might be
beneficial.
In addition to the TrustZone-based
TEE, a modern mobile device may have
a number of secure elements owned
by different parts of the value chain.
The SIM card may be owned by the
operator, the OEM may have its own
SE and the OS may require access to
a SE for holding keys or performing
Fig. 3. TrustZone-based TEE with FIDO Trusted App, Trusted
User Interface & encrypted channel to a secure element.
24
25
MYLINK
MYLINK
Embedded Developer
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Microsemi Secures World’s
Embedded Systems
New Security Solutions
Safeguard IoT Vulnerabilities
Interview with Paul Pickle – President of Microsemi
Microsemi is a global, broadline supplier of semiconductor solutions. The company
has roots in the aerospace and defense markets—areas that require high-reliability
solutions. Recently, the company has made significant strides leveraging their
core competencies in the communications sector, as more and more devices
become interconnected. Microsemi’s value proposition of low power, security,
reliability, and performance has proven to be beneficial for securing the Internet of
Things (IoT), which has been widely overlooked in its development stages. EEWeb
spoke with Paul Pickle of Microsemi about some of the key security hazards and
vulnerabilities within the IoT and what the company is doing to secure it.
28
29
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Embedded Developer
We were investing in security knowing that it was
going to become critically important in the future.
As we become more dependent on
the IoT, the liability of these security
issues grow exponentially.
How does Microsemi’s experience
working in the military and defense
industries help in the migration towards
the IoT to help stop data breaches?
Even if companies begin to focus
solely on security when developing
IoT, do you think they can ever be
completely secure?
Security is a big-picture view that we
value. If you think in terms of threat
mitigation, it doesn’t come down to
one particular aspect like encryption,
software, or hardware. It really comes
down to taking a holistic view—security
has been a big issue the past five years,
but there hasn’t been a real appreciation
for what exactly that means. We were
investing in security knowing that it was
going to become critically important
in the future. The military and defense
contractors certainly understand
the importance of security and our
work with government agencies in
terms of cryptographic techniques
and countermeasures gives us a great
knowledge base to apply to IoT. Physical,
software, and encryption capabilities
were imperative to our operations in
the military fields, and then we began
looking at component exploits and we
realized there was work that needed
to be done in terms of making sure
there were fewer attack vectors. We
previously built all of these tools that
our customers could use as one-offs, but
we started recognizing that the rest of
the world needed somebody to bring a
more holistic view to security—it couldn’t
be an afterthought, which is typically
how it had been done in the past.
30
Do you believe the IoT has brought
these security issues to the forefront?
It definitely has. People view the IoT as
a new emerging trend, but connected
devices have been out there for quite
awhile. While we haven’t always called
it IoT, when you look at the number
of deployed connected devices in
the industrial space, it is a staggering
amount. Our security issue is that
we have been designing systems for
intended functionality for years, but
we are just now starting to become
fully aware of what happens if we
purposefully command a system to
do something that was not intended.
For example, putting an assisted
“Park” function in a car sounds like
a great idea, but when they were
designing those systems for the
car, they never really thought about
someone maliciously using the assisted
“Park” function in order to make the
car to do an abrupt left turn traveling
down the highway. While there are lots
of protection mechanisms to make
sure the system doesn’t malfunction
like that under normal operation,
nobody ever really thought about a
scenario where someone intentionally
circumvented the protections in order
to make something unintentional
happen; if they did, they would
have designed things differently.
We don’t know what we don’t know.
Hacking is an innovative process
at the heart of it—you can design a
system and someone will find a way
around that system. Theoretically
there are elements of security that
seem completely secure like some
cryptographic schemes because the
numbers are so large it would take
computers forever to find a key by brute
force, but they are meaningless if the key
can be easily extracted by other means.
For example, we had a researcher in
England who claimed to have found a
backdoor in one of our devices using a
form of a technique called side-channel
analysis to extract a cryptographic key.
The device had been on the market for
about ten years and was frequently used
in military systems and missiles because
of its security features. In this device
Microsemi utilizes two keys—one is a key
that the user chooses, and the other is
set at our factory. While it wasn’t really a
backdoor that could be used by any one
entity to circumvent a user’s device that
was accessed, if a user had both keys they
could gain access to a test facility on
the chip. Obviously we never intended
for an unauthorized user to gain access
to the factory key, but the researcher
found that he could extract it given
enough time and physical access to the
device using a newly developed piece of
technology. In reality there were other
security modes that the device could
be put in to thwart the hack, but he did
demonstrate that newer technology
could circumvent older technology.
The point is that ten years ago we
didn’t envision side-channel analysis
as a possible method to extract keys,
and while our latest devices are
protected against this type of attack it
demonstrates that Cyber security and
cyber threats will end up progressing
and become sophisticated enough so
that what we develop today can be
circumvented down the road, so it is
really hard to say that something will
be 100-percent secure. In addition,
IoT devices have inherent security
disadvantages: they have power
budgets, computing budgets, and cost
budgets. If a device is on the very edge
of the network that is taking sensor
input, they do not have a whole lot of
computing power that can be dedicated
to security functions. If they are a
sensor function, they have to be cheap,
meaning that the budget allocation
won’t all go to security features. It
is impractical to think that a device
Cyber security and cyber threats will end up progressing
and become sophisticated enough that what we
develop today can be circumvented down the road...
31
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Embedded Developer
One glaring problem with standards is that once
you define one, people will know how you approach
security and start looking for ways around it.
like that will be completely secure and
unhackable, which means that the mesh
network connected to it will always have
to test the messages that are being sent
back from whatever is connected to it.
Could you tell us about the Security
Center of Excellence (SCoE) and
its initiatives?
It is a daunting task to approach security,
and if we are going to drive secure
solutions going forward, we have to
bring everybody together to look at the
problem a little differently. An ideal goal
should be to build devices with security
as one of the goals as opposed to just
intended functionality. The other part of
threat mitigation is we have to think in
terms of assuming that somebody can
get into the system or onto your network.
Given that, we have to take the approach
mitigating threats on a real-time basis.
We want to approach the problem a
little bit differently. The SCoE is about
taking all of the tools we have developed
over the years in all different areas—
software, hardware, and system—and
provide a service that is essential to
implementing security standards. One
glaring problem with standards is that
once you define one, people will know
how you approach security and start
looking for ways around it. We are
putting together sets of standards with
32
the services that we provide in order to
drive security in the right direction. It
is tough to convince people that they
need to pay for a preventative measure,
but I think it will soon become obvious
that this is something we need. As we
engage with customers, we end up
making better products and offering
better services. More importantly, it
will push IoT devices past the threats
that are already becoming apparent.
We offer threat penetration testing
to determine if a client’s product is
vulnerable and work with data engineers
to make sure the client’s devices are as
safe as possible. Threat mitigation is
something we already do, so it is really a
matter of taking what we have learned,
commercializing it, and making it cost
effective enough to bring to a broader
market. Customers have to understand
that they need security and I stress that
because there is a cost component, which
can be a deterrent at first. Security is a
capability that we have, not necessarily
a product, so we have to engage
with our customers to understand
what solution is right for them.
our own R&D efforts to build better
products with security built into them. To
make security threats mitigation better.
I expect that through the SCoE, we will
have recommendations that will include
Microsemi products, but remember that
security solutions is an independent
service that we provide. If participants
want us to tell them how to make
someone else’s components or systems
better, we will absolutely do that. There
are even certain techniques that they
can employ to implement security
without adding additional components.
A critical thing to mention is Root of
Trust, which is something that not a lot
of people address very well. We are going
off and looking specifically at physical
uncloneable function (PUF) or similar
techniques that would give systems a
unique fingerprint. This is something that
we should be able to develop cheaply
enough in high-volume components.
With that, we can enable systems to be
recognized as trustworthy. Trusting the
identity of connected systems would
go a long way for security, though
we still have to make sure that the
software is not compromised. If it is
not an afterthought, I think we can
continue to drive in a direction where
we economically provide solutions
at the right level of security.
We offer threat penetration testing to determine if a client’s
product is vulnerable and work with data engineers to
make the client’s devices are as safe as possible.
Do you have any plans in the
future to expand the SCoE?
The SCoE serves primarily as an
educational center for customers.
However, we will absolutely continue
33
EEWeb FEATURE
Embedded Developer
Littelfuse Helps
Circuit Designers
Protect
Small Devices from
Big ESDs
34
T
hough the value of good
protection is becoming a
more common consideration
in the minds of circuit designers
these days, it wasn’t long ago that
the circuit protection industry still
had a lot of work to do in proving
its worth. Thankfully, things have
certainly improved, and much of
the progress has been led by major
protection component providers like
Chicago’s Littelfuse, Inc. But, as the
company’s representatives imply,
there’s still a lot for the field to
accomplish in making devices more
reliable through better protection
from a host of unpredictable
electrical forces.
35
EEWeb FEATURE
Embedded Developer
WE THINK
IT’S VERY
IMPORTANT
TO HAVE
OUR SIGHTS
ON FUTURE
TECHNOLOGIES
THAT WILL BE
APPLICABLE
TEN TO FIFTEEN
YEARS OUT SO
WE ARE BEST
PREPARED TO
SERVE OUR
CUSTOMERS’
CIRCUIT
PROTECTION
AND POWER
CONTROL
NEEDS.
Today, when stalwart companies like
Littelfuse define themselves by a focus
on circuit protection, most engineers
still think only of basic protection
components like fuses and breakers.
But the company’s advanced approach
to the technology of protection has
taken them surprisingly far, not only in
standing at the top of the traditional
protection component market but in
developing and marketing advanced,
semiconductor-based protection
devices for the complex and demanding
standards of a world run by an increasing
variety of microprocessors, systems-onchips (SoCs) and other delicate chipsets.
With more than a decade in circuit
protection and five patents to his name,
Chad Marak, Director of Semiconductor
Business Development at Littelfuse,
clearly thinks a little bit differently than
the average engineer. Joining Littelfuse
as an analog design engineer in 2007,
Marak’s current responsibilities include
strategizing the growth of some of the
company’s protection product lines and
seeking out new technologies to invest in
for future growth. He received his BSEE at
Texas A&M University before continuing
his education. Marak has been involved
with introducing the details of circuit
protection, still a field that is not covered
extensively in traditional electrical
engineering programs, to a whole
new generation of engineers through
a series of educational engagements
including one at his alma mater.
“As the microprocessor chipsets become
smaller and faster, it’s important for
engineers to understand the critical value
36
and importance of circuit protection,
specifically at the board level to protect
more sensitive systems,” company
representatives outline. Marak echoes
this, saying that “around fifteen years
ago, it was much more difficult to
convince people that circuit protection
from things like electrostatic discharge
was an important priority. As processors
have become more complex in the era
of SoCs, and as the undesirable results
of marketing unprotected circuits have
certainly made themselves known, the
obvious importance of circuit protection
has become much more widely known
and now stands as a big concern for
designers.” With next-generation
protection now taking a bigger role in
the design process, Littelfuse five to
ten years out continues to develop an
impressively thoughtful approach to
making the most of what the circuit
protection industry has to offer.
Being an engineer himself, Marak
also feels that he brings a knowledge
of products and the state of current
developments in the field to the table,
which allows some unique insight into
where the company’s efforts might
best be invested to keep them at the
forefront of protection. “We think it’s very
important to have our sights on future
technologies that will be applicable ten to
fifteen years out so we are best prepared
to serve our customers’ circuit protection
and power control needs,” he explains.
It may seem like a particularly
new technology on the rise, but in
fact, Littelfuse first entered the
semiconductor protection market in
the late 1990s. Today, the company continues
to look at the future of circuit protection
increasingly on the silicon device level, as well
as on keeping pace on the level of familiar
passive protection components. Providing
a host of what Marak refers to as advanced
“overvoltage protection components,” the main
product lines at Littelfuse are all differentiated
by application, by the level or type of transient
they are meant to protect against, and by
some other basic design aspects, giving
the company an unusually diverse roster of
options from which designers can choose.
First, Marak details, is the company’s updated
take on the TVS diode, which provides essential
surge protection for almost any kind of
electronic device that consumes power. “As a
transient comes down the line, the possibility of
an overvoltage event is mediated by the diode,
which is triggered and shunts any excess power
to ground,” he explains, pointing out
that “these components are a bit bigger
relatively speaking and ultimately
designed to handle a general variety
of threats that electronic equipment
experiences on a daily basis.”
TVS diode arrays, on the other hand, which
represent the next distinct line of components
from Littelfuse, are “very small form-factor
designs, on the order of tenths of millimeters,
which allows Littelfuse to offer devices as small
as 0.45x0.25mm.” These devices, Marak says, are
more specifically geared toward protection from
the specific threat of electrostatic discharge
(ESD), and designed to meet some of the most
demanding form-factor requirements in the
market. “ESD is a very short-lived transient with
a very high voltage,” he describes, “and can be
very damaging to the common integrated circuit
(IC) in an increasing number of everyday devices.”
iDesign Tool
HELPING SAVVY DESIGNERS
PROTECT AGAINST ESD
Most electronic devices include ESD protection
circuitry to guard against ESD events the device
can be expected to encounter. Typically, the design
engineer selects these ESD protection devices
based on the rated protection voltage listed on
the data sheet, includes the part in the design,
and everything is fine. But sometimes a device
will fail ESD testing at a voltage lower than it
is rated for, or maybe a customer experiences
an ESD failure. This often leads to frustration
and confusion with little or no answers to the
question: “Why did the ESD protection fail?”
The answer is not always simple, but Littelfuse
has incorporated comprehensive simulation
capability into their iDesign ESD selection tool. The
data presented is not based simply on data sheet
specifications. Rather, it is based on the selected
protection device paired with the user-supplied
system and device information to provide a true
protection rating; in essence creating a dynamic
data sheet for each part in any given situation.
By partnering with Pragma Design to ensure the
quality and accuracy of its ESD device models,
Littelfuse provides designers with a platform
to quickly determine, compare, and select the
appropriate ESD protection device for their design.
Click the image below to watch an overview
of the Littelfuse iDesign Tool.
CLICK
37
EEWeb FEATURE
Embedded Developer
Littelfuse also leads in the supply
of what are known as protection
thyristors, or SIDACtor® devices,
which are generally associated with
telephone and communication
lines. These products help protect
telecommunication networks from
the threat of nearby lightning strikes,
which can induce surges or transients
into the wiring. The company also
backs those silicon device lines up
with a comparably wide selection
of traditional, passive overcurrent
protection components, like fuses.
Naturally, these components have
to be there, not only to protect the
electronics themselves but also to
protect the consumer from potential
electrical events with Li-ion batteries,
which are found in an increasing number
of devices in the era of the Internet
of Things. With the future situated
demonstrably well in their sights so far,
Littelfuse seem to have a successful
formula for looking ahead at every turn.
“More recently, Littelfuse is also
putting some effort into what we’re
calling ‘power control,’” Marak reveals,
“which we mean to differentiate from
the idea of power management in
the familiar sense.” When they say
“power control,” he distinguishes,
“we mean the switching of currents
or the controlling of power flow one
way or another, inside of a piece of
equipment, motor, etc.” It’s not circuit
protection at its core, he admits, but,
it is an area where Littelfuse has
expertise by virtue of their thyristor
product line and looks to expand in
this market over the coming years.
38
Beyond their many component
innovations, Littelfuse also offers
designers the use of a unique online
design platform called iDesign, in which
engineers can enter key parameters of
their own designs and be conveniently
guided through the process of identifying
the best protection options for their
products, including live simulation
and detailed data analysis. As Marak
describes it, iDesign definitely offers a
level of both attention and independence
otherwise unavailable in the circuit
protection market. Ultimately, it’s
precisely that willingness to provide
service at every level that defines
Marak’s impression of the Littelfuse
ethos. “We had an international customer
that was struggling to achieve the
proper level of ESD protection for a
very delicate chipset, something that
required some very specific attention
to detail,” he recalls. By applying their
unique talents, Marak describes, “we
ultimately worked with them to build
an entirely custom part and were able
to solve an issue that otherwise had no
readily available solution in the market.”
their own designs.” The company also
offers sample kits that include advice
and options geared toward certain
applications for all of their product lines,
developed to help engineers streamline
the process of choosing from among
thousands of possible components.
All in all, it’s precisely this kind of
outlook that has undoubtedly brought
Littelfuse to the leading edge of today’s
newest protection technologies,
Marak suggests. “We think it’s fair to
present ourselves to our customers as
knowledgeable in an unusually wide
variety of products, applications, and
processes, and we believe we can help
customers to make the most informed
decision about which protection
component is best for their products,” he
sums up. With the experience to make
the call and the evidence at hand, it’s
certainly not hard to believe him.
C
Electrostati
c
Suppressio Discharge (ESD)
n Design Gui
de
“IN ADDITION TO BASIC APPLICATION
GUIDES AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE...
LITTELFUSE OFFERS WHAT WE CALL THE
ESD
GUIDE
ESD SUPPRESSION
SUPPRESSIONDESIGN
DESIGN
GUIDE...”
Considering that, it’s no surprise to find
that Littelfuse offers individual service
to just about any kind of customer,
even to those inclined to do their own
independent research. “In addition
to basic application guides available
on our website,” Marak highlights,
“Littelfuse offers what we call the ESD
Suppression Design Guide, which is
just one of a number of design guides
that we offer to those interested in
learning some of the basics of circuit
protection in regard to applying them to
39
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Development, Cree, Inc.
Clean Energy
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