Arm receives first high assurance Common Criteria security certification for soft processor IP

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community.arm.com, Apr. 17, 2020 – 

The reported cost related to cybercrime is estimated to be 6 trillion dollars by 20211. And that is just cybersecurity. As more devices are deployed, whether they are connected or not, they are under threat from many types of attacks, be it software, physical, or communication attacks.

For this reason, Arm is committed to providing a trusted, simplified route to security across the entire spectrum of IoT devices. As a result of this commitment, Arm has taken the Cortex-M33 and the Cortex-M35P soft processors through a thorough evaluation process. On top of reviewing the development process, the security features (implemented at an RTL level) were evaluated as well:

• TrustZone and the memory protection unit (MPU) for both processors
• The specific security features present in Cortex-M35P, addressing some additional attacks typically requiring proximity to the target device (we refer to these security features - also in this blog - as "physical security")

Both processors and their security features have been certified to EAL6+ for the Common Criteria ISO 15408 standard.

This certification is unique in the world of security assurance and is a significant milestone for Arm and the entire industry. As the attack surface grows with the ever-growing functionality of devices and as the attackers' sophistication keeps increasing, it is more important than ever to apply unbiased, third-party evaluation (in the form of a certification process) to the very foundation of the device – to the soft processor IP level. The certification of the Arm IPs was performed on Verilog Hardware Description Language, and it provides security assurance and value to many application domains, where SoC and device makers seek to certify a complete product (across the whole spectrum of devices, from those aiming at entry-level security and assurance to those targeting the highest levels of security).

Let's dive into the details to better understand what the certification is and what this means for the industry.

Click here to read more...

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