Joint partnership enhances security at the system-on-a-chip level for the Internet of Things

March 25, 2017 - GMO  GlobalSign ( www.globalsign.com), a leading provider of identity and security solutions for the Internet of Everything (IoE), and  ARM, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, based in Cambridge, UK, have partnered for enhanced security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices with GlobalSign joining the ARM® mbed™ Partnership.

GlobalSign’s digital certificates will allow ARM mbed Enabled™ development boards to utilize digital certificates installation within IC chips at the time of production. Adding security at the System on a Chip (SoC) level enables trust in IoT devices to mitigate security, privacy and safety concerns. As the first step of this partnership, development and verification will be carried out through the ARM mbed IoT Device Platform to integrate GlobalSign’s digital certificates issuing system with IC chips writing machines.

Background of the Partnership

Various devices, such as mobile/wearable devices, industrial machines, automobiles and home appliances have become IoT enabled, and ARM expects the number of IoT devices will reach one trillion by 2035. IoT devices with embedded IC chips that consists of a sensor that objectively acquires data in its surrounding environment such as temperature, humidity and movement, acquired data transmission to Cloud and action execution and control on device. Many semiconductor manufacturers that produce the IC chips are licensed by ARM, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company. As IoT advances further, not only the wearables market but also the automotive semiconductor market are poised to grow rapidly.

Approach in IoT Device Security Equipment – Digital Certificates Issuance

While the IoT market is expected to grow, security of IoT devices themselves is raised as a top priority issue. Especially in the case where IC chips embedded in a device receive a malicious attack and gets installed with a rogue program. It can result in a major accident through data sniffing and fraudulent control of a device. Therefore, IoT device security features are in urgent need.

GlobalSign offers Client Certificates, a digital certificate that provides the capability to authorize and control access to the Cloud and servers by verifying the identity of an owner of the device in which GlobalSign’s Client Certificate is installed. This mechanism enables verification of an identity of a device accessing and prevents access by a rogue device. GlobalSign’s High Volume Digital Certificate Issuance Platform is capable of issuing thousands of certificates per second, facilitating a secure IoT environment.

With such background, GMO GlobalSign signed the ARM mbed partnership agreement with ARM, with this partnership enabling them to realize native IoT device security that the IoT market seeks by embedding a mechanism that integrates with GlobalSign’s digital certificates system into IC chips. From here on, GlobalSign will work with ARM to realize a secure IoT environment that utilizes the following mechanism.

Description of Our Partnership – SoC (System on a Chip) Level Security in IoT Device

GlobalSign and ARM will work on developing an integration of digital certificates issuing system to enable secure Client Certificates installation in IC chips at the time of production utilizing the mbed IoT Device Platform equipped with security features. By using mbed, IC chips writing machines that semiconductor makers own can integrate with GlobalSign’s certificates issuing system via API^*3 and it enables automatic high-speed and high-volume installation of Client Certificates in IC chips.

As the first step of this partnership, GlobalSign will provide technology to initiate its verification for the above framework around summer 2017. In coming years, GlobalSign will deliver IoT-driven services designed mainly for electronics manufacturers in collaboration with ARM, based on the mechanism above.

ARM mbed IoT Device Platform

The  ARM mbed IoT Device Platform provides an operating system, cloud services, tools and development ecosystem needed for IoT device and application development to allow development and offering of IoT solutions for business use. It enables connection and communication with devices with some restrictions, protects a lifecycle of the systems that use mbed Client and device management service to make lifecycle management from devices to microcontrollers possible.