German electronics company Infineon Technologies has launched a service that automates cloud certificate provisioning and IoT device-to-cloud authentication.

Called Cirrent Cloud ID, the service extends the chain of trust and makes tasks easier and more secure from chip to cloud, while lowering companies’ cost of ownership. Cloud ID is suitable for cloud-connected product companies in the industrial, consumer, healthcare, medical and manufacturing industries.

“IoT product companies have struggled for years to simplify manufacturing, security and provisioning,” said Rob Conant, vice president at Infineon. “Cloud ID builds on Infineon’s strong capability in embedded security, combined with the Cirrent cloud services, to extend the chain of trust from the chip to the cloud, addressing the manufacturing, security and provisioning problems in a unique way. We’re helping our customers save money, time and staff while making no compromises on security.”

In the past, companies making IoT devices made trade-offs between IT complexity and security. They could choose complex and expensive options involving the installation of hardware security modules (HSMs) in their manufacturing lines and requiring secure IT processes, or they could choose simpler methods that were less expensive to implement but had security flaws.

Cloud ID breaks that paradigm by providing cryptographic security with a cloud-based certificate delivery mechanism and simplifying manufacturing processes, while maintaining the capability to have individual certificates without complex IT systems and processes. Asymmetric key security leverages Infineon’s trusted security and the strength of the X.509 certificates without the complex infrastructure.

Automatic provisioning to the cloud means users can configure a cloud-to-cloud connection and provisioning with a private cloud, public cloud or AWS IoT Core. There is the ability to monitor, track and audit registration and provisioning. And it lowers cost by replacing NRE and the operational costs of an HSM.

Cloud ID is quick and easy to set up. A user sets up a free Cirrent account and configures cloud-to-cloud connection between the Cloud ID service and their product cloud. A Cloud ID compatible batch of chips, containing X.509 certificates, are delivered to the manufacturing location, where a technician registers them using a smartphone. The X.509 certificates are automatically provisioned to the product cloud. Users can log into the Cirrent console to download their certificates, audit and track registrations and provisioning.