Date: 20/02/2011

Secure microcontroller family from NXP Semiconductor for counterfeit protection

NXP Semiconductors has announced the au10tic family of secure ICs designed specifically for device authentication. The au10tic secure microcontrollers are based on NXP's security technology used for securing government ID cards and passports, and smart cards for banking and other high-security applications. au10tic ICs feature tamper-resistant security solution including key generation and programming services, and the option for remote management of applications and credentials running on the secure MCU.

"Counterfeit electronic devices present a very real challenge to businesses, particularly as smartphones, tablets, e-book readers and other mobile computing devices become ubiquitous. In medical and industrial equipment, the presence of counterfeit devices could mean the difference between life and death," said Chris Feige, senior director and general manager, tagging and authentication product lines, NXP Semiconductors. "With au10tic, we're bringing a new level of security to device authentication. It's an entirely new portfolio of authentication chips built on our proven security technology."

The NXP's au10tic family of secure ICs can be used for counterfeit protection; for authentication of devices and users accessing secure content and services; and for device identification to enable secure machine-to-machine communication. The authentication chips are designed for easily integrating then into consumer products such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, game consoles and electronic accessories. These devices are also suggested for ICT infrastructure, industrial equipment, medical devices, and appliances and devices in the Smart Grid.

Using au10tic can be used by brand owners in preventing counterfeiting and protect software content and services against unauthorized use and distribution.

au10tic uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) algorithms such as RSA and ECC
and the secret key never leaves the security IC and is not part of the host software, and also supports symmetric algorithms such as 3DES and AES. Also NXP au10tic A7001 security IC has built-in hardware tamper resistance to protect the secret key from physical attacks.

The au10tic A7001 is a secure microcontroller running the JavaOS, along with an industry standard X.509 certificate-based security application for convenient and easy integration into end devices. The au10tic A7001 solution features a standard I2C interface and 80KB EEPROM for secure storage.

Availability: Now in samples and volumes in March