Record-breaking crypto performance with new MCUs

Segger’s hardware acceleration support for its emCrypt offering. emCrypt is a comprehensive library of cryptographic algorithms which are at the heart of all cryptographic software products from the company, such as emSSH and emSSL, as well as security focused products like emSecure. This pure software solution achieves a performance of 2.17MB/s AES-128 encryption on a 168MHz NXP Kinetis K66 MCU. Written entirely in C, it is compatible with any 16-bit, 32-bit or 64-bit CPU and can be used in microcontroller-based applications, as well as tablets or PCs. The new version now also supports hardware acceleration. On the same MCU, the hardware supported algorithm nearly quadruples the performance to 8.20MBytes/s. “NXP and Segger share a common view on the security required for modern devices that are part of the Internet of Things (IoT). With the increased exposure of embedded devices, security becomes a central part of product development. Segger’s libraries enable developers to easily add security to their devices with less effort,” states Michael Norman, product line manager at NXP. “IoT is becoming an increasingly important part of modern embedded design. Recent reports of service attacks have demonstrated the importance of having strong IoT security in place. NXP’s Kinetis series of MCUs is highly optimized for implementing security. The Kinetis Crypto Acceleration Unit (CAU) significantly improves the performance, resulting in higher communication speeds, lower CPU utilization and a reduction in power consumption. Our already efficient algorithms used for TLS and SSH gain even more by using the CAU,” adds Alex Gruener, CTO at Segger.