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Cybersecurity threats to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are addressed by Microchip Technology, with the introduction of an alternative time system that is traceable to universal co-ordinated time (UTC) and not dependent on GNSS. The Precise Time Scale System provides nations, institutions, critical infrastructure operators and scientific labs with complete control over the time source that their infrastructure depends on, said Microchip. 

The integrated system is capable of providing timing accuracies comparable to the world’s best national laboratories, continued the company. It consists of a SyncSystem 4380A Time Scale Edition which generates an autonomous time scale derived from combining sever­al independent clocks with a multi-channel instrument for measuring and comparing clock performance. There is also the Time Scale Orchestrator software providing a unified view with a built-in database that integrates the management, monitoring, alarming, and reporting functions of the individual prod­ucts that form the time scale system.

Other elements in the system are the 5071A Cesium clock primary frequency standard and MHM 2020 active hydrogen maser. These atomic clocks from Microchip provide accurate and stable frequencies that are continuously measured against each other to compute and generate the ensemble time scale frequency.

The Precise Time Scale System integrates these in a turnkey system, available in a single rack and guaranteed by a complete factory acceptance test.

Microchip’s SyncServer S600 / S650 and TimeProvider 4100 time servers are integrated to provide Trusted Time to critical infrastructure using both network time protocol (NTP) and precision time qprotocol (PTP).

Randy Brudzinski, vice president, Microchip’s frequency and time systems business unit explained that by implementing an autonomous time source, “a nation can control and leverage time as a utility to safeguard critical infrastructure including its transportation, financial sector, communications and power utilities”.

Alternatively, for customers constructing their own time scale systems, Microchip’s time scale products can be purchased individually to provide core time scale functions, such as clock measurement and clock ensemble generation, along with system management, monitoring and performance reporting. The modularity allows timekeepers the ability to procure the system over time as budgets permit and technology evolves.

The Precise Time Scale System is designed to customer requirements.

http://www.microchip.com

Designers cannot assume the equipment they are using is trustworthy and must look to new technology to secure systems, warned Microchip Technology. It has released the configurable microcontroller-based CEC1736 Trust Shield family goes beyond NIST 800-193 Platform Firmware Resiliency guidelines, with runtime firmware protection that anchors the secure boot process while establishing an entire chain of trust for the system platform.

The CEC1736 configurable real-time platform root of trust enables runtime firmware protection in the SPI flash and I2C/SMBus filtering against run time attacks. 

The attestation feature provides trustworthy evidence to ensure that critical devices in the platform are authentic. Lifecycle management and ownership transfer features protect secrets throughout the end product lifecycle and during the transfer of product ownership, allowing different operators to use the system platform securely without compromising information.

“The presumption of equipment trustworthiness is no longer acceptable, and it is imperative to both expect and guard against unauthorised firmware components while also distrusting peripheral components until proven trustworthy,” said Ian Harris, vice president of Microchip’s Computing Product business unit. “Our CEC1736 Trust Shield family . . . . provides a complete solution to these challenges that simplifies development and provisioning of keys and other secrets while speeding time to market and providing the flexibility to stay ahead of threats,” he added. 

The CEC1736 Trust Shield family’s hardware crypto cipher suite is equipped with AES-256, SHA-512, RSA-4096, ECC with key size up to 571 bits and Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) with a 384-bit key length. 

The 384-bit hardware physically unclonable function (PUF) enables a unique root key and symmetric secret and private key generation and protection. The root of trust and security meets the NIST 800-193 and OCP (Open Compute Project) security guidelines to allow for a quick adoption of the latest security advances and standards, Microchip added. 

Microchip’s CEC1736 Trust Shield family consists of silicon, software, tools, a development board and provisioning capabilities for firmware protection. 

Microchip’s development tools for the CEC1736 Trust Shield family are the Trust Platform Design Suite (TPDS) and a graphical user interface (GUI) configurator for exploring capabilities, defining the security configuration and provisioning secrets for prototyping and production. Microchip’s MPLAB Harmony is an integrated embedded software development framework, designed to simplify device set up, library selection and application development. There is also the CEC1736 development board and Microchip’s Soteria-G3 firmware.

http://www.microchip.com