PSA Certified and the ioXt Alliance have given the thumbs up to IoT security technology from Texas-based Silicon Labs.

Its hardware and software technologies dedicated to securing IoT devices against growing and evolving threats have earned third-party IoT security certifications from both PSA Certified and the ioXt Alliance.

Secure Vault, available this month in Silicon Labs’ EFR32MG21B multiprotocol wireless SoCs, achieved PSA Certified level-two certification, which is based on an assurance framework co-founded by Arm that helps IoT security standardisation and removes security as a barrier to time to market.

The EFR32MG21B is the first radio to attain the PSA Certified level-two accreditation.

“From tiny low-power sensors to high performance IoT devices, security must be built in at the chip level to ensure a strong foundation,” said Andy Rose, chief system architect at Arm. “Silicon Labs understands the importance of this and, by achieving PSA Certified level two, their customers can be assured of robust protection against scalable software attacks, enabling secure SoCs for mass market IoT deployment.”

Silicon Labs’ xG22 Thunderboard and EFR32MG21B development kits also achieved SmartCert security certification status from the ioXt Alliance, recognised as a global standard for IoT security. Because the ioXt Alliance allows for certification inheritance, these certifications can be leveraged by any device manufacturer using Silicon Labs’ xG22 and xG21B to reduce their own device level ioXt certification time and effort.

“Silicon Labs has long been a leader in the IoT space and demonstrated a commitment to device security,” said Brad Ree, chief technology officer at the ioXt Alliance. “Earning the ioXt SmartCert for xG22 Thunderboard represents a deep commitment to security and transparency which will have a ripple effect through the smart home, smart retail and portable medical device markets.”

Matt Johnson, senior vice president of IoT at Silicon Labs, added: “Threats are continuously evolving, and the demands on IoT product developers to keep up can be difficult, particularly in low cost, resource-constrained IoT products. Securing IoT products in our connected world is a necessity as customer data and cloud-based business models are increasingly targeted for costly hacks, and IoT security requirements are quickly becoming law.”

He said Silicon Labs was committed to working with the security community, customers and third-party security experts to deliver state-of-the-art security that helped protect connected IoT devices.

“We are proud of these important IoT industry certifications, which recognise the hard work and cutting-edge security technology we are incorporating into our portfolio,” he said.

Secure Vault is a suite of security features designed to help connected device manufacturers address escalating IoT security threats and regulatory pressures. Silicon Labs’ Wireless Gecko series-two platform takes advantage of Secure Vault technologies by combining security features such as secure boot based on hardware root of trust, secure debug, physical tamper, secure identity for attestation, and physically unclonable function key management technology to reduce the risk of IoT security breaches and compromised intellectual property.

• Silicon Labs is expanding its portfolio of Bluetooth Low Energy products for IoT developers with the BGM220S. At 6 by 6mm, the device is claimed to be one of the world’s smallest Bluetooth SiPs. The module adds turnkey Bluetooth connectivity to small products.

Also launching is the BGM220P, a slightly larger PCB variant optimised for wireless performance along with a better link budget for more range. Both support Bluetooth direction finding, while delivering up to ten-year battery life from a single coin cell.