AN FRANCISCO & ALISO VIEJO, Calif.- Rambus Inc. (RMBS) today announced that Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) will serve as reseller for certain differential power analysis (DPA) technologies developed by its Cryptography Research division. This reseller agreement includes the DPA WorkStation™ and the recently-announced DPA Resistant AES cryptographic cores that offer chipmakers an easy-to-integrate solution to protect against side-channel attack vulnerabilities. Microsemi will focus its reseller efforts on the government and military sectors.
The agreement also enables Microsemi to conduct training classes to help customers evaluate their vulnerability to DPA and related side-channel attacks, helping chip purchasers and downstream customers identify devices with the most effective security. As the first major FPGA company to license DPA countermeasures, Microsemi has identified DPA as a significant vulnerability in chip security, specifically for the mission-critical applications found in government and military settings.
“The threat of side-channel attacks, particularly DPA, is very real in the military and government space,” said Greg Ellis, vice president and product line manager at Microsemi. “Acting as a trusted partner that can offer training, testing and IP core products around DPA provides Microsemi with a substantial security differentiation while also assuring the rigorous security requirements of our government and military customers are being met.”
Microsemi’s newest generation of SmartFusion®2 SoC FPGA and IGLOO2® FPGA programmable devices are the industry’s most secure, boasting four key elements needed for secure programmable devices—secure hardware, design security, data security and being built through a secure supply chain management system. The Cryptography Research DPA Workstation and associated testing services complement these FPGAs from Microsemi, as well as the company’s existing portfolio of cryptography, anti-tamper and anti-reverse engineering IP products, including WhiteboxCRYPTO™, CodeSEAL™ and EnforcIT®.
“The relationship with Microsemi is important and we look forward to seeing our relationship continue to grow, benefitting government and military customers with expanded access to a full range of DPA-resistant solutions,” said Paul Kocher, president and chief scientist of the Rambus Cryptography Research division. “As more and more embedded systems contain high value and sensitive information, the threat of side-channel attacks will continue, making it imperative to have a partner like Microsemi delivering much needed products, tools and services to the market.”
Side channel and DPA attacks involve monitoring the fluctuating electrical power consumption of a target device and then using advanced statistical methods to derive cryptographic keys and other secrets. Strong countermeasures to these attacks help protect tamper-resistant products used in a variety of applications outside of government and military verticals, such as banking, pay television, mass transit, secure ID, and wireless telecommunications.
About Cryptography Research
The Rambus Cryptography Research division specializes in embedded security solutions to combat the worldwide threat to data integrity, our innovative technologies span areas including tamper resistance, content protection, network security, media and payment and transaction services. Eight billion security products are made annually with our security technology, and systems designed by our scientists and engineers protect hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues every year. Additional information is available at cryptography.com.
About Rambus Inc.
Rambus brings invention to market. Our customizable IP cores, architecture licenses, tools, services, and training improve the competitive advantage of our customer’s products while accelerating their time-to-market. Rambus products and innovations capture, secure and move data. For more information, visit rambus.com.
About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense & security, aerospace and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world’s standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 3,400 employees globally. Learn more at microsemi.com.
