Embedded World: Maxim adds PUF to MCU for secure processing

“As IoT applications continue to proliferate, large numbers of devices are being deployed in uncontrolled and hostile areas that make them more vulnerable to physical attacks,” according to the firm. “Maxim’s PUF technology allows for multiple layers of protection to provide the most advanced key-protection technology in a cost-effective format for use in IoT, healthcare, industrial and computing systems.”

The chip is called MAX32520, and uses the tamper-proof PUF key for flash encryption, secure boot for root-of-trust and serial flash emulation. The inherent physical security inherent of the PUF key removes the need for a battery to actively destroy secret-key materials when under attack. “Until now, the most-sensitive applications have always required a battery to provide this highest level of secret-key protection,” according to Maxim. “Flash-encryption using PUF protects sensitive information with encryption keys that withstand even advanced physical inspection and prying.” – The devices come with up to 2Mbyte of secure flash.

As well as the flash encryption key, the PUF can also provide a unique ECDSA private key for strong device authentication. The associated public key can be further exported and signed by a certification authority.

A SP 800-90A and SP 800-90B compliant true random number generator (TRNG) is built in, as are hardware accelerators for AES-256, ECDSA P-521 and SHA-512.

The MAX32520-KIT# evaluation kit is available.