NXP EdgeLock® SE051: Enabling Secure Smart Home Connectivity with Matter
For smart homes to be truly smart, the devices that connect to the home network and the cloud need to be both interoperable and secure. The new Matter standard, enabled by NXP solutions, delivers the seamless, secure connectivity that lets smart homes live up to their promise.
Applications
- Smart Home Control
- Smart Home Entertainment
- Smart Home Security
- Smart Home Gateway
The Challenge in Smart Homes
People around the world are installing systems that make their homes smarter, more connected, more convenient, more energy efficient, more entertaining, and more secure. However, device diversity and a lack of interoperability can cause frustration during setup and make it difficult to establish, maintain, and expand a smart-home network.
Furthermore, connected devices in the smart-home environment can become an entry point for hackers. Hackers can gain access to smart-home devices, and subsequently, the entire home network, potentially compromising personal information, financial data, security systems, and home safety.
From the device manufacturer's perspective, market fragmentation makes a comprehensive security approach difficult. Protecting against numerous individual actions and vulnerabilities is challenging due to the high degree of protocol and ecosystem diversity. Manufacturers must learn and support different security mechanisms for each ecosystem they design for.
Particular areas of concern include device onboarding onto the network, communication within the home network, and protecting devices against new threats post-deployment. At all stages, the device and its connection require a unique device identity. Developing a secure process for creating and assigning device identities is complex, demanding vigilance and multiple layers of protection during production. Manufacturers must consider how provisioned identities are stored and how to manage device credentials to minimize vulnerability. The varying methods for provisioning and credential management across ecosystems add further complexity to smart device development and delivery.
The Solution: Matter and NXP
An industry-wide effort, driven by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) and NXP, offers the interoperability and security that smart-home devices require. The CSA's new standard, called Matter, is a single, unified application-layer connectivity protocol designed to enable developers to connect and build reliable, secure IoT ecosystems and increase compatibility among smart home and building devices.
By enhancing interoperability and security across smart-home ecosystems, the Matter standard promises to simplify development for product manufacturers while making installation simpler and more secure for consumers. It ensures high-level security at every point. Matter's layered and robust security approach allows smart-home devices to offer authenticated onboarding and secure connections to the home network. Data can be encrypted and transmitted securely over the network to prevent sniffing, and locally stored data can be protected using encryption keys. Standardized cryptographic protocols are integrated into the Matter specification for secure onboarding and communication within a Matter home network, ensuring compatibility between all Matter devices based on their security level.
Matter also defines an update mechanism, enabling deployed devices to address new security developments and threats.
NXP EdgeLock® SE051: Hardware Security for Matter
The Matter standard makes security an integral part of operation, mandating the use of specific cryptographic protocols. The EdgeLock® SE051, a tamper-resistant secure element, ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of device communications. It serves as a turnkey solution for supporting Matter cryptography and security protocols, implemented and accelerated in hardware, such as ECDSA and AES-CCM.
The EdgeLock® SE051 provides higher-level, certified security for Matter-based devices, allowing developers to simplify development and differentiate their products. It comes with certified hardware and cryptographic algorithms, along with a middleware stack that simplifies integration and strengthens the security of any embedded architecture, including those using secure MCUs/MPUs with advanced protections. The EdgeLock® SE051 is independently certified at CC EAL 6+.
The EdgeLock® SE051 is also supported by NXP's EdgeLock® 2GO service for provisioning devices with the identities and credentials necessary for onboarding into the Matter ecosystem. With EdgeLock® 2GO, NXP offers a tailored provisioning service, eliminating the need for device manufacturers to invest in new manufacturing equipment to support Matter's security requirements. This results in the quick deployment of "connect and go" smart-home devices that are easy to commission.
As an extended hardware crypto offering, complete with SEMS technology and supported by NXP updates, the EdgeLock® SE051 is designed to remain current with evolving Matter specifications.
Learn More
The NXP Design Community site offers helpful hints, easy-to-follow how-tos, and detailed application notes for use with the EdgeLock® SE051.
Find more information on www.nxp.com/SE051.
NXP, the NXP logo, and EdgeLock are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 NXP B.V.
