
Insight SiP announces funding for IoT security program
Insight SiP has obtained financing from the French government and Southern regional Government as part of the “Regional Investment Program for the Future” enabling it to further develop its IoT security program.
Secure data transmission and robust authentication are major issues in our increasingly technology-based societies. These issues are particularly pertinent in the domain of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) where security has typically not been a prime concern. Increasingly, sensitive data is being transmitted i.e medical or financial or systems with safety implications are being connected.
To meet this challenge, Insight SiP, a global leader in miniature connected objects, has been engaged in an ambitious development program to created secure RF modules.
These System-in-Package based devices are just a few millimetres in dimension. In addition to RF and standard microprocessor components, they also integrate a Secure Element component. This additional component includes its own microprocessor and private memory, so that secure functions such as encryption, authentication and key storage can be sealed inside a “secure zone”. This provides both software protection, for instance keys cannot be read once stored, and hardware protection. The Secure Element is protected against microscopic hardware probing or advanced hacking techniques.
Typical IOT systems provide “link level” security. For example, it is hard to “spy” on Bluetooth radio transmissions, but few systems provide secure end-to-end connections. This makes it is relatively easy to find “gaps” in the security chain to spy on and/or inject malicious code into them.
Insight SiP has previously secured support for this program via the European level Eureka/Eurostars program. The next phase is supported by the French government financed Southern Region Future Investment program. (“Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir Régionalisé de la Région Sud”).
Michel Beghin, President of Insight SiP said “On behalf of the company, I would like to thank the French state and Southern region for their support for this program. I am convinced that thanks to their support Insight SUP will be able to offer the world’s first ultra-secure miniature RF modules.”
