HSINCHU, Taiwan – Andes Technology Corporation, a leading supplier of outstanding efficiency, low-power, high performance 32/64-bit embedded CPU cores, including a broad family of RISC-V cores, has entered into a strategic partnership with Tiempo Secure, a unique supplier of ISO/IEC 15408 standard CC (Common Criteria) EAL5+ (Evaluation Assurance Level) grade secure element IP, to bring the RISC-V based security solution up to CC EAL5+ certification.
The rise of IoT is driving serious concern about security, including at the edge device level. According to recent Ericsson research, by 2024, there will be more than 22 billion connected IoT devices. While security based on logical separation mechanism is commonly deployed, it is admitted that there is some limitation in term of security certification. Furthermore, security integration into the IoT ecosystem could become complex.
The alternative is to enable security from a tamper resistant and certified hardware as a security enclave (Secure Element IP) into the MCU or SoC design.
Tiempo Secure has developed a Secure Element IP (TESIC) as a hard macro integrating CC EAL5+ grade state-of-the-art security countermeasures and security sensors against side channel and intrusion attacks. The integration of this Secure Element IP into a RISC-V SoC will bring the security of this SoC up to CC EAL5+ security, without compromising on power consumption.
“Andes Technology offers RISC-V based ultra-compact processor with the outstanding performance and low power consumption available on the market,” said Dr. Charlie Su, CTO and Executive VP of Andes Technology. “Integrating Tiempo Secure’s CC EAL5+ security enclave into AndesCore N22 solution will now allow our customers to address the most security critical applications on the IoT market.”
“By working with Andes Technology we’re able to dramatically enhance the security that developers need to protect their IoT ecosystems based on RISC-V,” said Serge Maginot, CEO of Tiempo Secure. “The plug-and-play integration of TESIC, our CC EAL5+ grade Secure Element IP, into the RISC-V cores of Andes Technology will enable RISC-V developers to easily integrate certified security features, such as secure boot, secure firmware update or iUICC stack, into their system.”
Once the Secure Element IP from Tiempo Secure is embedded into the RISC-V based AndesCore N22 designed by Andes Technology, the whole system can pass the highest level of security certification, including CC EAL4+/EAL5+ PP0084 and FIPS 140-2. It also solves the problem of security integration into the IoT ecosystem.
