End-to-end security solution for IoT devices connected to Amazon Web Services’ Cloud

Microchip have announced and end-to-end security solution for IoT devices that connect to Amazon Web Services IoT (AWS IoT), which they claim to be the industry’s first. Microchip and AWS collaborated to develop this integrated solution to help IoT devices quickly and easily comply with AWS’ mutual authentication IoT security model. Using the company’s new security solution will help companies to implement these security best practices from evaluation through to production. The solution adds a high level of security, simplifies the supply chain, and is now one of the fastest ways to connect to the AWS Cloud. Currently, third-party manufacturers of devices that connect to AWS IoT service must take specific actions to comply with the advanced security model. First, they must pre-register their security authority to AWS servers in order to establish a trust model. Second, for each IoT device they must generate unique cryptographic keys that are mathematically linked to the pre-registered security authority. Finally, the unique device keys must remain secret for the life of the device. In volume production, the generation and secure handling of these unique keys can be a daunting challenge in the chain of manufacturing especially where third-parties with different trust and compliance levels are involved. The company’s end-to-end security solution handles this process during three production steps. First, the AT88CKECC kit will allow customers to meet the security standard of AWS’ mutual authentication model and easily connect to the AWS IoT platform during the evaluation and engineering phase. Second, the AWS-ECC508 device assists with meeting security standards during the prototyping and pre-production phase. Finally, devices will be customised for production stages to ensure information security in customer applications.