Spring 2021 Newsletter

The global pandemic has been a long and bumpy ride for all of us, but finally we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccination programs are making progress and several parts of the world are able to loosen restrictions and open up their societies safely and responsibly again. In the meantime businesses have adapted to the new situation and the semiconductor and security businesses are seeing a lot of traction, as you can read below.

At Intrinsic ID, with offices in different parts of the world, we still have most people working from home and hardly any business trips. Almost all our meetings are virtual. We hope this will change in the near future, so we can start attending physical events again and meet with you, our customers and partners. Regardless of these limitations, Intrinsic ID has been able to further increase the momentum that we have built over the last year by growing our customer base, our team, and our product portfolio. We have strengthened our leadership in several markets and had design wins in the smallest nodes.

We look forward to meet you all again soon in a more personal setting. But until then, please enjoy this newsletter to read up on some of these latest developments at Intrinsic ID.

Stay safe and stay healthy!
Pim Tuyls – CEO, Intrinsic ID

Upcoming Webinar
Securing FPGA based Defense Electronics with Invisible Keys
On June 10 (11am EDT / 2pm EDT) Intel, EndoSec, and Intrinsic ID are hosting a webinar that is powered by Military Embedded Systems. In this webinar the partners will explain how traditional hardware security methods are easily circumvented, making it easier to clone and insert counterfeit devices in the supply chain, resulting in theft of assets containing sensitive IP.

Discover how the Intel Secure Device Manager and Intrinsic ID PUF combined with EndoSec’s anti-tamper expertise and IP protect Intel’s Stratix 10 and Agilex FPGA platforms across the supply chain by registering here.

Event
TSMC Technology Symposium
Similar to last year, the TSMC 2021 Technology Symposium will be an online event. As an IP partner of TSMC, Intrinsic ID will be an online exhibitor for the North American part of the event on June 1. You can register for this event here and visit our online booth during the event to connect with our representatives.

SoC Design
Avnet ASIC Solutions Licenses QuiddiKey for Advanced SoCs
Avnet ASIC Solutions has licensed QuiddiKey to create a strong root of trust to secure SoCs for its customers. Avnet provides ASIC and System on Chip design solutions to fabless design houses and electronic system companies developing advanced SoC devices for applications across a wide range of market segments including AI, automotive, communications, consumer electronics, government and industrial.

“We know that security is a critical component of any SoC design, which is why we’ve chosen the industry’s leading PUF IP from Intrinsic ID. Choosing Intrinsic ID is giving us and our customers the assurance that we have an advanced and secure solution,” said Nadav Ben-Ezer, Managing Director of Avnet ASIC Solutions.

InfoSec Awards
Intrinsic ID Wins Award for ‘Next Gen in Embedded Security’
Intrinsic ID has received the Cyber Defense Global InfoSec Award 2021 for “Next Gen” in the category Embedded Security. Winners were announced on May 17th in conjunction with the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

“Intrinsic ID has been named a winner for the third consecutive year in our InfoSec Awards Program. This speaks to the quality and consistency of its solutions and the company’s long-standing expertise in the area of using Physical Unclonable Functions for embedded security,” said Gary S. Miliefsky, publisher, Cyber Defense Magazine. “Intrinsic joins a selective group of the most innovative, forward thinking and proactive cyber security companies and service providers on the planet. We honor these companies who are working to bring tomorrow’s cybersecurity solutions to market, today.”

PUF Cafe
More and More Episodes Available on Online Platform
Since getting started in early 2021, a growing audience is finding its way to PUF Cafe, the global platform for PUF technology. One of its most important features are the monthly PUF Cafe Episodes, where different experts shine a light on specific aspects related to PUF technology. The first three PUF Cafe Episodes can be found in the archive on the website and cover topics like provisioning, key derivation, and the history of PUFs.

With three Episodes available, Episode 4 cannot be far away. On June 2 Pieter Willems from Silex Insight will give a presentation on the use of PUF in an embedded security framework. Go to “Register Now” on this page to sign up and join this virtual event live.

Podcasts
Two Interviews with our CEO Pim Tuyls
Pim has been interviewed by EEJournal’s Amelia Dalton for her weekly podcast called Fish Fry. In this interview Pim and Amelia discuss the role of hardware-based security in today’s EE ecosystem, where physical unclonable functions are headed in the future, and what Intrinsic ID’s PUF Cafe is all about.

Pim has also spoken to Daniel Nenni from SemiWiki.com. In an episode of Semiconductor Insiders Pim explains what a PUF is and how Intrinsic ID developed this technology around SRAMs that are found on virtually all chips. They talk about multiple applications for SRAM PUFs, how they are implemented, and what the future hold for this technology.

Article
Security Tech Based on Each Chip’s Unique ‘Fingerprint’ Comes to Data Centers
The Fungible Data Center platform has a number of new approaches to computing infrastructure, like the ability for users to scale compute, storage, and network resources independently. It also uses PUF technology to secure the system, something that’s relatively new to the data center market (although it’s been widely used in other areas).

“We selected the Intrinsic ID PUF IP because its SRAM-based approach avoids the complexity of alternatives,” said Fungible’s Satish Kikkeri. “In addition, the IP is silicon-proven and benefits from several years of field deployment.”

Read all about how Fungible is bringing Intrinsic ID’s PUF technology to the data center market in this article from Data Center Knowledge.

Article
Why Deception is the Achilles’ Heel of IoT
IoT security has been widely discussed and is often times associated with topics such as “the expanding attack surface” and “zero-day vulnerabilities.” However, one underrated attack vector that is often missing in those discussions is the most basic and vital of all: deception.

Almost all security problems are authentication problems. If you can authenticate the identity of the device on the other side of a communication, you can know what is legitimate and what is not. But how do you authenticate a device? Learn all about this in this article on Embedded Computing Systems.

Article
Basics of SRAM PUF and how to deploy it for IoT security
Secure connection of billions of low-cost devices is only possible if every device has the capability to protect sensitive data and secure communications. This protection is provided by certificates and cryptographic keys, similar to the passport in the previous example. However, these keys and certificates also require a physical security anchor to make sure that they cannot be copied to a rogue device, impersonating a genuine one. A technology that provides this security anchor are SRAM PUFs.

This article from embedded.com covers the basics of what an SRAM PUF is and how it works, as well as the functionality it offers in internet of things security as the trust anchor for any device.