Crypto Quantique partners Andes on Risc-V IoT security

  • May 25, 2022
  • Steve Rogerson

Crypto Quantique, a UK specialist in quantum-driven cyber security for the IoT, is working with Taiwanese firm Andes Technology to deliver Risc-V IoT device security.

Andes supplies low-power 32 and 64bit Risc-V processor cores and is a founding premier member of Risc-V International. Crypto Quantique has also joined the AndeSentry security framework, which provides a variety of security options for Andes Risc-V processors, countering threats ranging from cyber attacks to physical attacks.

Andes is cooperating with Crypto Quantique’s quantum-driven semiconductor root-of-trust IP, called QDID, and the company’s chip-to-cloud IoT device security management platform, QuarkLink, to bring industrial-grade cyber security.

QDID, which has been independently verified as robust against all known cyber-attack mechanisms, measures quantum effects occurring in the fabric of silicon wafers to produce unique, unforgeable identities and cryptographic keys on-demand inside microcontrollers and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The identities and keys create roots-of-trust for the chips used in IoT devices and edge nodes.

QDID is a physical unclonable function (PUF) that eliminates key injection and the requirement to store keys in device memories. It fits in the security framework embraced by the Risc-V architecture.

QuarkLink is end-to-end IoT security software. It works with QDID or other roots-of-trust to provide secure provisioning, automated onboarding to on-premises or cloud platforms, security monitoring, and certificate and key renewal or revocation. With QuarkLink, a few keystrokes can connect thousands of IoT devices to servers automatically through cryptographic APIs.

“The traction that Risc-V has achieved in recent years, much of it driven by Andes Technology, has firmly established the instruction set as a leading contender for high performance, low power processors of the kind found in IoT devices,” said Crypto Quantique’s CEO Shahram Mossayebi. “We see this partnership as a perfect fit of two companies that anticipate and respond to our industry’s technical challenges with silicon innovation. Risc-V processors improve the performance of IoT devices while reducing power consumption and cost. QDID does the same for the security of the chips that drive these devices, and the networks in which they’re deployed.”

KY Hsieh, senior technical marketing manager of Andes Technology, added: “Leading-edge processors need leading-edge security in a world that faces a growing plague of cyber attacks. Device security is part of that and an essential element in every chip design. Crypto Quantique’s IoT security products would help our goal of offering customers best-in-class technologies to give them a competitive edge on cyber-attack protection. We are excited that Crypto Quantique becomes a part of the AndeSentry collaborative security framework, which offers a rich set of security for the Risc-V ecosystem.”

Crypto Quantique has created what it claims is the world’s most secure end-to-end IoT security platform. The company, which is based in London, was co-founded by Shahram Mossayebi, an expert in cryptosystems, and Patrick Camilleri, a semiconductor designer with experience in complex parallel computer systems.