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Aliso Viejo, Calif. -- Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced it has signed a reseller agreement with Thales e-Security. Using Thales e-Security nShield hardware security modules (HSMs), custom firmware and the state-of-the-art security protocols built into every Microsemi SmartFusion2 system-on-chip (SoC) field programmable gate array (FPGA) and IGLOO2 FPGA, customers can automatically prevent overbuilding of their systems in any manufacturing facility anywhere in the world, saving millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Thales nShield HSMs in combination with custom firmware running on the nShield generates a unique authorization code for each SmartFusion2 or IGLOO2 device. The authorization code can only be decrypted by the device for which it was generated. Within the HSM security boundary a device limit count is used to control the number of authorization codes generated and hence the number of systems built.
This agreement, which makes Microsemi a certified reseller of Thales nShield HSMs, strengthens the relationship between Microsemi and Thales and extends the trusted supply chain assurance infrastructure used in-house to the end customer. Microsemi has been using Thales nShield HSMs as part of its manufacturing flow for SmartFusion2 and IGLOO2 devices to inject unique device IDs, device keys and x.509 device certificates. Allowing Microsemi customers to use the same HSMs in their manufacturing flow closes the loop on supply chain assurance. This enables the company's customers in the communications, industrial and defense markets to trust that their deployed systems are authentic and utilized precisely as planned. Overbuilding prevention is now completely automated.
"Our relationship with Thales allows us to combine our companies' security technologies and provide our customers the highest levels of protection to safeguard their intellectual property, products and revenues from today's evolving threats," said Shakeel Peera, senior director of FPGA/SoC marketing for Microsemi. "This new offering builds upon our existing hardware security module manufacturing infrastructure by allowing customers to securely program their unique key material and designs into a fixed number of SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs and IGLOO2 FPGAs even in untrusted locations."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that intellectual property (IP) threats cost domestic companies more than $250 billion per year in lost revenues. Hardware security modules effectively remove the vulnerability posed by insiders, particularly those within manufacturing locations, enabling offshore manufacturing without threat of overbuilding, cloning or reverse engineering—or incorporating classified data during non-classified manufacturing—while maintaining confidentiality of the sensitive data and preventing tampering such as insertion of a Trojan horse. A hardware security module is a tamper-resistant device designed to generate keys securely, encrypt FPGA bitstreams in a secure environment, facilitate the use of customer owned sensitive key material and execute standard and custom algorithms requiring the use of protected keys.
"Partnering with innovative companies like Microsemi enables Thales to apply our cumulative decades of experience in practical cryptographic techniques to securing the backbone components of the Internet of Things," said Cindy Provin, president of Thales e-Security, Inc. "As a world class provider of powerful, flexible hardware based cryptographic solutions, Thales looks forward to joining Microsemi in developing and deploying sophisticated cryptography that solves security problems at the heart of the advanced digital supply chain."
Applications that can benefit from Thales e-Security hardware security modules include any FPGA-based system that may be at risk for overbuilding, including core routers, switches, small cells, remote radio heads, factory automation, process control, smart small form-factor pluggables (SFPs),programmable logic controllers (PLCs), secure communications, missile systems, and defense equipment targeted at foreign military sales (FMS).
About Thales' Hardware Security Modules
Thales nShield hardware security modules provide a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified, hardened, tamper-resistant environment for secure cryptographic processing, key protection and key management. Utilizing the unique nShield CodeSafe feature which enables execution of custom code within the certified security boundary of the HSM, Microsemi specified custom firmware automatically prevents overbuilding when used in conjunction with SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs or IGLOO2 FPGAs in any untrusted environment.
Availability
Thales nShield hardware security modules for Microsemi's devices are available now. Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs and IGLOO2 FPGAs have been granted certification for seven protocols used in design security under the CRI DPA Countermeasure Validation Program developed by Rambus Cryptography Research Division. For more information, visit http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/security/overbuilding-cloning or contactsales.support@microsemi.com.
About Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs
Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs are the only devices that address fundamental requirements for advanced security, high reliability and low power in critical industrial, military, aviation, communications and medical applications. SmartFusion2 integrates an inherently reliable flash-based FPGA fabric, a 166 megahertz (MHz) ARM® Cortex-M3 processor, advanced security processing accelerators, DSP blocks, SRAM, eNVM and industry-required high-performance communication interfaces all on a single chip. For more information visit: http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/soc-fpga/smartfusion2.
About Microsemi's IGLOO2 FPGAs
Microsemi's IGLOO2 FPGAs continue the company's focus on addressing the needs of today's cost-optimized FPGA market by providing a LUT-based fabric, 5G transceiver, high-speed GPIO, block RAM, high-performance memory subsystem, and DSP blocks in a differentiated, cost and power optimized architecture. This next generation IGLOO2 architecture offers up to five times more logic density and three times more fabric performance than its predecessors and combines a non-volatile flash-based fabric with the highest number of general purpose I/O, 5G SERDES interfaces and PCIe end points when compared to other products in its class. IGLOO2 FPGAs offer best-in-class feature integration coupled with the lowest power, highest reliability and most advanced security in the industry. For more information visit: http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/fpga/igloo2-fpga.
About Microsemi's Defense and Security Product Portfolio
Microsemi is a provider of defense and security products and services, including secure FPGAs and SoCs, secure solid state drives (SSDs), security software, anti-tamper solutions, FIPS-197 certified 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet PHYs with AES-256 MACsec support (IEEE 802.1AEbw-2013). Microsemi security services include risk assessment, protection planning, red teaming, blue teaming, security engineering and side channel analysis and mitigation. For more information about Microsemi's portfolio for defense applications, visit http://www.microsemi.com/applications/defense. For more information on Microsemi's security capabilities, visit http://www.microsemi.com/applications/security.
About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense & security, aerospace and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif, and has approximately 3,600 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.