What role does memory play in securing the MCU for IoT applications?
- Secure boot allows designers and equipment manufactures to establish a hardware-based root of trust. For secure boot to occur, it is essential that a microcontroller starts executing firmware from an internal, immutable memory. This way the firmware images stored in the microcontroller are inherently trusted since the code cannot be modified.
- In the case of the CEC1702, code is stored in the boot ROM and authenticated before execution. The CEC1702 firmware code is encrypted for additional security. The CEC1702 firmware may also be used to authenticate system code from a SPI Flash.