CryptoManager RISC-V core battles security vulnerabilities
To mitigate security vulnerabilities like Meltdown and Spectre, Rambus has announced the availability of the CryptoManager Root of Trust RT630. This programmable hardware security core is built with a custom RISC-V CPU. It creates a siloed architecture that isolates and secures the execution of sensitive code, processes and algorithms from the primary processor. This mitigates the risk of critical vulnerabilities like the recent Meltdown and Spectre security flaws. It also allows designers to optimise the primary processor for high performance, low power, or other characteristics while optimising security in the siloed core, explains Rambus. The CryptoManager Root of Trust is an embedded security core designed for applications from networking to automotive to IoT.
The core groups together secure processing, placing it away from general processing, supporting isolated cryptographic security processes, while the layered security has a root of trust designed for multiple security layers to enable easy implementation of the highest levels of protection, claims Rambus. The CryptoManager Root of Trust also embeds features that enable semiconductor manufacturers and device OEMs to insert hardware keys, and enables IoT service providers to manage IoT endpoints throughout their lifecycle in the field.
By establishing the trust chain early in the silicon manufacturing process, a security core can enable trusted provisioning and robust auditing of security-related activity throughout all phases of the chip lifecycle, argues Rambus. The CryptoManager Root of Trust offers the primary processor a full array of security services, such as secure boot and runtime integrity checking, remote authentication and attestation, and hardware acceleration for symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms. The CryptoManager Root of Trust creates a secure foundation for Rambus’ comprehensive CryptoManager suite of solutions, which also includes the CryptoManager Provisioning Infrastructure and CryptoManager IoT Security Service.
The open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) allowed Rambus to design a custom processor without microarchitecture constraints, explains the company. The CryptoManager Root of Trust is purpose-built to be safe and independent from general processing, offering a smaller and simpler approach without sacrificing security. This provides customers the opportunity to better design and better validate their products.
