Firmware vulnerabilities increased by over 700% from 2016 to 2019.
Real-time hardware security: FPGAs have an advantage over MCUs and TPMs.
Lattice Launches Sentry Stack and SupplyGuard Services


There are increasing cases of firmware being used as an attack vector by hackers.

According to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), an open source vulnerability information sharing organization in the United States, the number of firmware vulnerabilities increased by more than 700% from 2016 to 2019.

“The proliferation of connected devices is accelerating, and security concerns are growing across industries,” said Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy. “Developers now need to demonstrate that their hardware platforms are secure from cyber threats and IP theft.”

Protecting the system against unauthorized attempts to access firmware requires dynamic, consistent, real-time hardware platform security technologies for all connected devices.

Features are also required to protect component firmware from unauthorized access and to enable the system to automatically and immediately protect, detect, and recover from external attacks.

TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and MCU-based hardware security solutions use serial processing and therefore cannot provide real-time performance like parallel processing solutions such as FPGAs.

Lattice Semiconductor announced on the 13th through an online conference that it is launching the Sentry™ solution stack and SupplyGuard™ supply chain protection service.

“Lattice developed the Sentry Stack and SupplyGuard service so that customers can safely inspect their devices at a low cost,” said Jang-Seop Yoon, President of Lattice Semiconductor Korea, who hosted the meeting. “It is a next-generation security technology that enables immediate response with FPGA-based parallel processing performance.”

The Sentry Stack integrates custom embedded software, reference designs, IP, and development tools. This enables developers to implement secure systems that comply with the Platform Firmware Resiliency (PFR) guidelines (NIST SP-800-193) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

When a problematic firmware is detected, the Sentry Stack automatically reverts to the previous known-good firmware version, allowing the security system to continue operating without interruption. Hardware Root of Trust (RoT) implementation is also possible with support for the Lattice MachXO3D™ FPGA family, which is specialized for security.

Even developers with no prior FPGA experience can drag and drop the IPs from the Sentry stack and modify the included RISC-V reference C code within the Lattice Propel design environment. This reduces the development time for PFR applications from 10 months to just six weeks.

SupplyGuard provides OEMs and ODMs with peace of mind by tracking the history of Lattice FPGAs throughout the entire process, from manufacturing through transportation through the global supply chain, system integration and assembly, initial configuration, and deployment.

SupplyGuard services ensure that only authorized manufacturers, regardless of region or location, can manufacture OEM designs, providing OEMs with a secure key infrastructure to prevent product cloning and overbuilding by ensuring their IP cannot be activated on unauthorized components.

It provides security features to prevent Trojans, malware, and other unauthorized software from being downloaded and installed on devices, protecting the platform and systems from device hijacking or other cyber threats.

Additionally, SupplyGuard services can be customized to meet the specific security and supply chain needs of any OEM Lattice engages with.

Lattice's Sentry Stack and SupplyGuard services are available now.