Maxim Security ICs - Alternatives?

What is the complexity of your *device*? Are you concerned with blatant counterfeiting? Class I attacks or Class II?

How hard would it be for someone to copy your *idea* (leaving your device intact)?

How much are you willing to burden your development and recurring costs (which will ultimately make your product LESS attractive to customers as those costs are passed along)?

The type of defense you use will vary depending on the type of attack you expect.

Many serial and parallel NOR flash memories provide for the unique serial number and the OTP security register. The idea is to compute the result of a secret_function(serial_number, security_register) in your software. Good thing about it is that you don't have to make any modifications for the firmware for every unit to make it unique. Of course, this won't stop the determined hacker; however this is good enough to prevent the dumb 1:1 copying.

Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

A small microcontroller ( e.g. PIC10F, ATTiny) would probably do the job reasonably well. If you're looking for serial-number type functionality, some of the SPI serial flash chips have this.

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I haven't any detailed knowledge of it, but look up "Keeloq" on the Microchip website. They seem to have micros with the technology embedded as well as stand alone encoders and decoders.

-Aubrey

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Keeloq isapparently 'cracked'....

Atmel do security processors as used in smart cards... but you have to be a large corp, take volume and sign NDA.

The AT88SC0104CA seems to be available from digikey. Not a processor but a "crypto memory".

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I just came across a design idea entitled "Algorithm keeps data safe" in the January 21, 2010 edition of EDN. It seems to address your concerns.

-Aubrey

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