Wouldn't it be Great to have CyberSecurity Integrated into your IoT Processors (MCUs)?

Not many companies in the world can take this approach, but if you're the largest microchip designer/manufacturer on the block, i.e. Intel Corp., this is not too far a bridge, and embedding smart CyberSec software into processing hardware can in fact represent a monumental turning point in today's  IoT Security Architecture.

Some of the recent musings as to why it's so important to "harden" the IoT at the MCU level:

//IHS Article of Jan 4, 2016 - Silicon Labs joins the list of chip vendors offering an IOT app processor with integrated cybersecurity functionality  // ... "There is a growing recognition in the IoT industry that cybersecurity protection needs to be improved. High profile IoT cyberattacks, including “white hat” demonstrations of security flaws, such as the Jeep Cherokee exploit earlier in 2015 that led to the recall of 1.3 million vehicles, are contributing to this increasing focus on security. While encryption algorithms and other cybersecurity mechanisms can run via software, there is general acceptance that only hardware-based solutions, whether from a standalone security co-processor or from cybersecurity hardware integrated into the host processor, provide sufficient host isolation to adequately defend against attacks.

IHS forecasts that the overall embedded secure MCU market (for standalone security co-processors, the majority of the embedded market) to rise from $708 million globally in 2015 to $829 million by 2020. IoT applications represent the smallest embedded secure MCU market segment currently (the other two larger segments are Trusted Platform Modules and Authentication), but also the fastest growing of the three. IHS estimates that integrated solutions are at about 30% the size in total shipment volume currently compared to standalone secure co-processors, but carry a higher average selling price.

These views seem to substantiate, if not vindicate, what Intel had set out to do with its 2010 acquisition of McAffee, which was, as stated back then by Intel's CEO, Renee James: “Hardware-enhanced security will lead to breakthroughs in effectively countering the increasingly sophisticated threats of today and tomorrow,” said James. “This acquisition is consistent with our software and services strategy to deliver an outstanding computing experience in fast-growing business areas, especially around the move to wireless mobility.”

“McAfee is the next step in this strategy, and the right security partner for us,” she added. “Our current work together has impressive prospects.”

Intel is in sync with this IoT explosion, and chances are that it is poised to deliver this new generation of CyberSecurity-enabled MCU's:

Making advanced microchips has always been hard. But it’s now so difficult that the number of companies with the knowledge and cash to do it is about to shrink to precisely four.

The factories in which microchips are made, called fabs, can cost billions of dollars. They’re like rocket launch sites or nuclear power plants: Everyone knows where they are and how many are in the works. And they make the microchips on which all nearly all advanced smartphones, PCs, servers, and other critical pieces of IT infrastructure depend.

The smallest elements on the most advanced microchips, currently in testing, are down to 14 nanometers, on the scale of atoms and molecules. Fifty water molecules in a row would just reach 14 nanometers.

The companies that can manage this feat of nano-scale manufacturing for a variety of microchips are Intel, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), and GlobalFoundries.

Intel is currently building a high-volume fab for its most advanced processors, and outfitting two others with the same technology.