Silicon Labs Advances IoT Device Security to Thwart Evolving Threats

IoT device security

Earns Key Security Endorsements from PSA Certified and ioXt Alliance, Launching First Products with Secure Vault

Silicon Labs, a leading provider of silicon, software, and solutions for a smarter, more connected world, announced that its cutting-edge hardware and software technologies dedicated to securing the Internet of Things (IoT) devices against growing and evolving threats have earned third-party IoT security certifications from both PSA Certified and the ioXt Alliance.

Secure Vault, available September 9 in Silicon Labs’ new EFR32MG21B multi-protocol wireless SoCs, achieved PSA Certified Level 2 certification, which is based on a comprehensive assurance framework co-founded by Arm that helps IoT security standardization and removes security as a barrier to time-to-market. The EFR32MG21B is the first radio to attain the PSA Certified Level 2 accreditation.

“From tiny low-power sensors to high-performance IoT devices, security must be built in at the chip level to ensure a strong foundation,” said Andy Rose, chief system architect and fellow at Arm. “Silicon Labs understands the importance of this and by achieving PSA Certified Level 2, their customers can be assured of robust protection against scalable software attacks, enabling secure SoCs for mass market IoT deployment.”

Silicon Labs’ xG22 Thunderboard and EFR32MG21B development kits also achieved SmartCert security certification status from the ioXt Alliance, recognized as a global standard for IoT security. Because the ioXt Alliance allows for certification inheritance, these Silicon Labs ioXt certifications can be leveraged by any device manufacturer using Silicon Labs’ xG22 and xG21B to greatly reduce their own device level ioXt certification time and effort.

“Silicon Labs has long been a leader in the IoT space and demonstrated a commitment to device security,” said Brad Ree, chief technology officer at the ioXt Alliance. “Earning the ioXt SmartCert for xG22 Thunderboard represents a deep commitment to security and transparency which will have a ripple effect through the smart home, smart retail, and portable medical device markets.”

“Threats are continuously evolving, and the demands on IoT product developers to keep up can be difficult – particularly in low cost, resource-constrained IoT products,” said Matt Johnson, senior vice president of IoT at Silicon Labs. “Securing IoT products in our connected world is a necessity as customer data and cloud-based business models are increasingly targeted for costly hacks, and IoT security requirements are quickly becoming law. Silicon Labs is committed to working with the security community, customers and third-party security experts to deliver state-of-the-art security solutions that help protect connected IoT devices today and tomorrow. We are proud of these important IoT industry certifications, which recognize the hard work and cutting-edge security technology we are incorporating into our portfolio.”

Read More: Top IoT Security Challenges amid COVID-19

Secure Vault: Redefining IoT Device Security

Silicon Labs’ Secure Vault is a new suite of state-of-the-art security features designed to help connected device manufacturers address escalating IoT security threats and regulatory pressures. Silicon Labs’ Wireless Gecko Series 2 platform takes advantage of Secure Vault technologies by combining best-in-class security features such as secure boot based on a hardware root of trust, secure debug, physical tamper, secure identity for attestation, and physically unclonable function (PUF) key management technology to greatly reduce the risk of IoT security breaches and compromised intellectual property. To learn more about Secure Vault and security in IoT

IoT Security Expert Sessions at Works With Smart Home Developer Virtual Conference

On September 9 and 10, Silicon Labs is hosting the “Works With” virtual smart home developer conference, the defining smart home technology conference live streaming for free to thousands of engineers, developers and product managers worldwide. On both days, Silicon Labs senior product manager for IoT security and ioXt Alliance board member Mike Dow will partner with ioXt Alliance chief technical officer Brad Ree to lead IoT Security Regulations sessions. These training sessions will explore the security regulatory landscape, how Silicon Labs’ new Secure Vault technology enables IoT device developers to meet or exceed those regulations and how the ioXt Alliance is addressing the need for uniform evaluation and certification of IoT product security levels to prove adherence to those regulations.