| 3 billion chips were compromised in 2018 due to firmware vulnerabilities.
| MachXO3, ON at the beginning of the PCB, OFF at the end
| FPGA with control function providing 4K and 9K LUTs

Lattice Semiconductor announced on the 22nd that it is launching the MachXO3D, an FPGA for security system design.

Systems without security features are always at risk of data and design theft, product cloning and overbuilding, and device manipulation or theft.

By leveraging MachXO3D, OEMs can implement robust, comprehensive, and flexible hardware-based security across all system components.

At every stage of the system's lifecycle, MachXO3D detects and protects itself and other components in the system from unauthorized firmware access attempts. Damage can also be repaired.

Cyber attacks via component firmware have been on the rise recently.

In 2018, a security breach occurred in 3 billion chips in systems that were vulnerable to data theft, all of which occurred through firmware.

Additionally, firmware without security features can be linked to device hijacking (for DDoS attacks) and device manipulation or destruction, putting OEMs at risk of financial and brand reputational risks.

Failure to address these risks can negatively impact a company's reputation and financial performance.

“Firmware with weak security features is even more dangerous because it not only leaves user data vulnerable, but can also render systems permanently inoperable, ruining the user experience and exposing OEMs to liability,” warned Patrick Moorhead, president and founder of Moor Insights & Strategy.

“FPGAs offer a highly competitive hardware platform solution for secure system firmware,” he said. “FPGAs can process multiple functions in parallel, enabling faster identification and response when unauthorized firmware is detected.”

When used to implement system control functions, the MachXO3 FPGA device is typically the first device turned on and the last device turned off on the PCB.

By integrating security and system control functions, MachXO3D becomes the first link in the chain of reliability that protects the entire system.

With the launch of MachXO3D, Lattice has further enhanced the programming step in the manufacturing process as well as the product line.

These performance enhancements, combined with MachXO3D's security features, protect your system through secure communication between MachXO3D and legitimate firmware vendors.

This protection is valid throughout the entire product life cycle of the component, including system manufacturing, transport, installation, operation and decommissioning.

According to Symantec, supply chain-related attacks increased by 78% between 2017 and 2018.

The MachXO3D is a control function FPGA that provides 4K and 9K look-up tables (LUTs) for logic implementation that is immediately configured from on-device flash memory at power-up, and on-device operation for single 2.5/3.3V supply operation.Includes a vice regulator.

To provide more flexible design options, it also supports up to 2700 Kbits of user flash memory and up to 430 Kbits of sysMEM embedded block RAM.

The MachXO3D offers up to 383 I/Os and can be configured to support LVCMOS 3.3 through 1.0. It is designed to integrate into a wide variety of system environments with features such as hot-socketing, default pull-down, input hysteresis, and programmable slew rates.

It also features an embedded security block that supports pre-validated hardware for cryptographic functions such as ECC, AES, SHA, PKC, and unique secure ID, as well as an embedded secure configuration engine that ensures that only FPGA configurations from trusted sources can be installed.

“System developers often leverage the flexibility of FPGAs to enhance system functionality after deployment,” said Gordon Hands, director of product marketing at Lattice Semiconductor. “With the MachXO3D, Lattice maintains that flexibility while adding a security configuration block, making it the industry’s first control-capable FPGA compliant with the NIST Platform Firmware Resilience (PFR) specification.”

Lattice's MachXO3D FPGA samples are available now.