Unveiled Solution Featuring Processor Preventing Physical Tampering and Added Physical Attack Defense Capabilities

Arm has announced IP design technology capable of protecting systems from physical attack threats. Now, all Arm IPs incorporating this technology are tagged with a 'P', signifying physical security.

Along with the Cortex-M35P, a high-performance processor that enables embedded security developers to prevent physical tampering and enhance security authentication levels, Arm unveiled the Arm CryptoCell-312P and Arm CryptoIsland-300P, which add physical attack defense capabilities to existing security IP solutions.

IoT security is a multifaceted challenge involving billions of devices, requiring system-wide security measures to protect such a vast number of devices. The diversity of this field is a challenge even for Arm's partners. In response, Arm has announced a new product that enables SoC designers to integrate higher levels of security to provide a core layer of system protection, amidst a growing number of applications requiring protection against physical attack threats.

With the emergence of new use cases, the need has arisen to integrate protection features not only into payment and identity verification applications but also into smart lighting, connected door locks, smart meters, and automotive applications.

Physical attacks target vulnerabilities in the physical implementation of the chip rather than in the software or design phases. These physical attacks are divided into two categories. One is an invasive attack that requires chip depackaging, and the other is a non-invasive attack such as a proximity side-channel attack (SCA). This obtains information through unintended side-channels generated during chip execution.

All of Arm's security IP designed to defend against physical attacks is tagged with 'P', which stands for physical security. The Cortex-M35P is a powerful, high-performance processor that enables embedded security developers to prevent physical tampering and enhance security authentication levels.

Arm announced that it has applied protection technologies against various Side-Channel Attacks (SCA), including power and electromagnetic field analysis, to its two major existing security IP families, CryptoCell and CryptoIsland. Consequently, partners can now license more secure IP within Arm's security portfolio. The CryptoCell and CryptoIsland solutions have already met the security requirements of various stakeholders in the value chain. With the addition of the newly announced physical attack defense capabilities, these solutions are now capable of addressing a broader range of attack surfaces required by some IoT applications.

Arm has a unique approach to SCA protection, such as adding physical security features to existing products. By reducing information leakage from the source rather than hiding or disguising leaked information, additional safeguards have been established to defend against the advanced methods and analysis tools that hackers use to overcome existing 'information hiding' tactics. Arm's mitigation method is not affected by the fundamental characteristics of the protected target, enabling expansion into new markets.

The design of the Cortex-M35P follows the PSA principle that specific use cases of IoT devices must be analyzed first when defining device security requirements. This enables the assessment of relevant assets and values targeted by attacks before defining the range of various attack methods that could threaten new devices. Through this, designers can determine a multi-layered approach to implementing appropriate levels of security and threat mitigation technologies.

Paul Williamson, Vice President and General Manager of Arm’s IoT Device IP business unit, stated, “The new IP announced by Arm expands Arm’s robust security portfolio and provides partners with more building blocks and flexibility to build security solutions tailored to their applications and markets. This enables the industry to introduce protection solutions for existing and new use cases requiring physical resilience in critical areas.”