Following a collaboration with the UK firm Crypto Quantique, Taiwanese integrated device manufacturer Macronix is now enabling end-to-end security for IoT device provisioning, onboarding, and lifetime management.

Crypto Quantique focuses on quantum-driven cyber security for the Internet of Things (IoT). Macronix is a non-volatile memory (NVM) integrated device maker. It has expanded its ArmorFlash ecosystem with the addition of the QuarkLink IoT security management platform.

ArmorFlash memory uses a physical unclonable function (PUF) to provide Macronix chips with unique, immutable, and unclonable identities. These distinct identities serve as the foundation for ArmorFlash’s secure element. This is the root of faith in memory.

The difficulties of cryptography that enable secure IoT communications are fully automated by Crypto Quantique’s QuarkLink. Thousands of IoT devices can be securely onboarded to their preferred cloud service provider in minutes thanks to a simple, intuitive user interface. Understanding the intricacies of credential management when connecting to a cloud-based server does not require any cryptography experience.

Furthermore, there is no need to create the complicated embedded software required to manage cryptographic keys and certificates, which may take months of technical resources to produce.

The QuarkLink platform connects the ArmorFlash root of trust to applications and services running on on-premises or cloud-based servers in a safe manner. The platform enables device provisioning, onboarding, and lifespan management, such as firmware updates, certificate renewal, and device revocation.

“With IoT security becoming a major concern for many of our customers, we wanted to offer designers a complete solution, from chip to cloud,” said Macronix vice president FL Ni. “Partnering with Crypto Quantique enables us to do just that, saving our customers time and expense when they want to create secure IoT networks quickly and at scale using our ArmorFlash memories.”

Shahram Mossayebi, Crypto Quantique’s CEO, added: “Macronix was one of the first memory companies to address security within their devices and has created a robust secure element in ArmorFlash. It perfectly complements QuarkLink’s capabilities and supports our vision of democratizing IoT security at scale by making it far easier to implement.”

Crypto Quantique claims to have developed the world’s most secure end-to-end IoT security platform. At its core is quantum-driven semiconductor hardware IP known as QDID, which provides numerous, unique, unforgeable cryptographic keys for devices fabricated using normal CMOS methods. The keys do not need to be saved and can be utilized on-demand by several programs independently.

It establishes a secure bridge between silicon, device, software, and service providers when combined with cryptographic APIs from the company’s universal IoT security platform, QuarkLink.

Mossayebi, a cryptosystems expert, and Patrick Camilleri, a semiconductor designer with competence in complicated parallel computer systems, co-founded the London-based company.