Protect against Rootkit and Bootkit malware

Microchip Technology has released a new cryptography-enabled MCU, the CEC1712 MCU with Soteria-G2 custom firmware – created to stop malicious malware including rootkit and bootkit for systems that boot from external SPI flash memory.

The company's Soteria-G2 custom firmware on its full-featured CEC1712 Arm Cortex-M4-based microcontroller gives secure boot with hardware root of trust protection in a pre-boot mode for operating systems booting from external SPI flash memory. Also, the device offers key revocation and code rollback protection throughout operating life, facilitating in-field security updates. Complying with NIST 800-193 guidelines, the device protects, detects and recovers from corruption for total system platform firmware resiliency. The secure boot with hardware root of trust is crucial in guarding the system against threats before they can load into the system and only enables the system to boot employing software trusted by the manufacturer.

“A particularly insidious form of malware is a rootkit because it loads before an operating system boots and can hide from ordinary anti-malware software and is notoriously difficult to detect,” said Ian Harris, vice president of Microchip’s computing products group. “One way to defend against root kits is with secure boot. The CEC1712 and Soteria-G2 firmware is designed to protect against threats before they can be loaded."

“Secure provisioning for some of Microchip's flagship products is an important part of our offering, and the Soteria-G2 firmware and CEC1712 microcontroller are targeted to protect systems,” said Aiden Mitchell, vice president of IoT at Arrow Electronics. “Customers will increasingly seek such offerings as we approach the 5G era and go more into connected solutions and autonomous machines.”