u-blox Launches IoT SaaS Solution
By adopting a symmetric key management system
Infinite instant generation of device-specific password keys


u-blox launched an 'IoT SaaS (Security-as-a-Service)' solution on the 20th.
This solution, available on u-blox’s LTE-M cellular IoT module family ‘SARA-R4’ and ‘SARA-R5’, enables easy protection of data from malicious code attacks, whether the data is stored on the device or being transmitted between the device and the cloud.

It is immediately available on all cloud IoT platforms and enables simple, secure, and cost-effective installation, accelerating customer IoT application development and shortening time-to-market.

The new solution, managed through the u-blox Thingstream service platform, is particularly optimized for deploying low-power wideband (LPWA) networks using resource-constrained IoT devices. It improves power consumption and extends the battery life of IoT devices by minimizing data overhead and the number of handshakes.

This solution employs a proprietary symmetric key management system (KMS) to generate an infinite number of per-device cryptographic keys on the fly, without relying on the storage and management of pre-shared keys, which can increase overall operational complexity and power consumption.

Since the key is linked to hardware and can be triggered from modules, servers, or the cloud, there is no need to generate, provide, or renew certificates, resulting in savings in terms of system costs, operational complexity, and power consumption.

In addition, u-blox IoT SaaS solutions utilize u-blox's Foundation Security technology, which consists of fundamental elements that ensure the security of SARA-R4 and SARA-R5 modules during design.

This includes a secure boot mechanism that ensures these modules can execute only trusted software, and a unique, immutable device ID associated with a root of trust (RoT) that forms the foundation of a trusted, advanced security feature set. Wireless OTA firmware update authentication is also possible through u-blox's proprietary uFOTA feature.

The solution can be used for asset tracking, e-health, industrial monitoring, building and home automation, telematics, smart metering, etc.

Giovanni Solito, Senior Product Manager at the u-blox Service Product Center, stated, “u-blox has implemented a true end-to-end concept that complements data from the device to the end user without exposing data to intermediate nodes, platforms, or service providers.”