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Brightsight Newsletter 08/05/2017
What is System on Chip (SoC)?
This month’s newsletter is about an abbreviation that we see more and more often in the security
industry: SoC. What is a “System on Chip”? What is the added value of an SoC and what can SoCs
do for you? Last but not least, what is important for the security assessment and certification of
SoCs?
There is no very strict definition of an SoC. In general terms, an SoC is a single silicon chip with one or
more CPUs and memory blocks, comprising specific functional building blocks to support a dedicated use
case. Examples are chips used in mobile phones, where one chip holds multiple processors, a graphics
controller, touch interface, a media controller and crypto co-processors. Other examples are dedicated
chips for IT equipment with integrated interfaces such as IP, Bluetooth or WiFi. Or even chips for Advanced
Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in the automotive industry, which include vision processors, graphics
processors for multimedia interfaces, sensor data management processors, and CAN buses. What these
SoCs have in common is that all logic is contained on a single sliver of silicon: they all offer a total singlechip solution.
It is interesting to note that smart cards can also be considered SoCs, since they contain all building blocks
for performing complicated tasks on a single chip. However, current SoCs are endlessly more powerful
than traditional smart cards. Many SoCs actually apply a complete smart card-like subsystem as a Secure
Element. We might even call this an SoC on an SoC!
The market is asking for it
We are seeing a growing demand for SoC products in various markets. Some markets demand high
processing throughput and additional physical security, while others demand low power consumption,
dedicated sensor logic or specific interfaces.
brightsight
BRIGHTSIGHT
Delftechpark 1 / 2628 XJ Delft
The Netherlands / +31 (0)15 269 2500
[email protected]
the number one
security lab
in the world
The most important markets are:
•
The Mobile market, where phones require powerful multiprocessor SoCs with additional functionality, reducing overall costs and lowering power consumption. Mobile Payment on smart phones requires SoCs with robust physical and logical security (Secure Elements, TrustZone or TEE);
•
The Payment Terminal market, which needs powerful processors with dedicated battery-backed digital/analog building blocks for protection of terminals in standby mode;
•
The traditional Conditional Access industry, which uses SoCs for secure media processing, like in set-top boxes (STBs);
•
The IoT for Industry market, which contains a wide variety of SoC solutions, ranging from dedicated (small) hardware with low power consumption to larger solutions with complex processing, storage and interfacing capabilities. The IoT for Industry market is growing very fast and needs secure hardware;
•
The Automotive market, which requires single-chip MCUs with dedicated purposes in Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Sensor and signal processing capability is usually required. Modern cars are equipped with over 100 MCUs and security is high on the priority list. In addition to these traditional applications, a new generation of SoCs is needed for autonomous driving, which requires extremely high processing power for image processing and executing Artificial Intelligence algorithms;
•
The fast-growing M2M Communication market, which is also boosted by autonomous driving. In this domain, security on interfaces and robustness are key;
•
The Medical Devices market, ranging from SoCs for inpatient support systems to e.g. insulin pumps. It is obviously very important that SoCs in this industry are reliable, safe and secure.
In the above list, a distinction can be made between markets where commonly accepted security
requirements have been established, and markets where this has not yet been done. Even though security
is paramount for all industries, not all industries approach the issue of security in the same way.
On the one hand, Payment and Terminal security have long been covered by the EMVCo and PCI
schemes, respectively. It is in the interest of the entire payment industry to have commonly accepted
security requirements to reduce any risks derived from security issues as much as possible. This has led
to a mature level of security for financial applications. Conditional Access has similar regulatory processes
that enforce a certain level of security.
On the other hand, markets such as IoT, Automotive and Medical Devices do not yet have schemes that
enforce security requirements for products.
brightsight
BRIGHTSIGHT
Delftechpark 1 / 2628 XJ Delft
The Netherlands / +31 (0)15 269 2500
[email protected]
the number one
security lab
in the world
Brightsight and SoC certifications
As the number one security lab in the world, Brightsight is responsible for the largest number of certificates
for ICs and terminal SoCs in the Payment industry. We also evaluate SoCs that must be able to resist
all possible attack methods in order to meet the most demanding security requirements of governments.
In our philosophy, customers should not merely be provided with a security certification. It is much more
valuable for the customer to be taken along in the evaluation process and informed of what the scheme
actually tries to achieve. This leads to ‘design for evaluation’, which is cost-effective and reduces time to
market. Evaluations not only cover the actual design, but also provide support to get clear documentation
for product manufacturing, development, guidance and maintenance.
Brightsight has long been an active participant in various industry-driven security groups such as JHAS and
JTEMS for Payment, GlobalPlatform for IoT and Premium Contents, ESCAR and ECSO for Automotive and
FIDO Alliance for Biometric Authentication. Moreover, we are recognized by 5 different Common Criteria
certification bodies worldwide. Our close relationship with the schemes allows us to play an intermediary
role between schemes and customers by interpreting existing security requirements – originally written for
smart cards – for secure SoC implementations. We are proud of the fact that our evaluation reports are
accepted by schemes with few or no comments, which results in fast certification turnaround times.
Brightsight security assessments
In addition to offering evaluation services for hardware and software certification of payment products,
we support the SoC industry by assessing the quality and effectiveness of secure SoC implementations
as well as providing instruction on how to design future secure products. Such a security assessment
usually starts with a series of training sessions for design staff and development management, followed
by in-house design reviews. Design reviews are intensive one- to two-week training sessions in which
Brightsight experts sit down with the developers to systematically go through the entire design together.
During this process, our experts comment on all design constructs that may lead to vulnerabilities, based
on their in-depth knowledge of state-of-the-art attack methods and implementation pitfalls. We often see
that existing protection mechanisms in designs are not effective for their intended purpose, leading to
wasted space and degraded performance (power, speed).
Hardware and software design reviews have proved to be highly effective in teaching key-development
staff how to integrate effective solutions. And last but not least, they’re fun to do!
Interested in a security evaluation? Feel free to contact us for more details!
brightsight
BRIGHTSIGHT
Delftechpark 1 / 2628 XJ Delft
The Netherlands / +31 (0)15 269 2500
[email protected]