Atmel gives EEPROM device AES-level security

Atmel says it is aiming to address what it sees as a gap in the market for improved security in microcontroller-based designs.

“There is a current void in the consumer, medical and computing sectors for increased security in microcontroller-based applications," said Kerry Maletsky, cryptographic product line director, Atmel.

The company is offering a way for designers to replace traditional EEPROM storage devices with a secure EEPROM device that uses the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) authentication.

"These devices offer world-class hardware protection for keys and data to help system developers easily integrate a higher level of trust in their system,” said Maletsky.

The chips include security features like non-reversible monotonic counters and the ability to securely move keys on and off the chip.

The ATAES132 devices are compatible with standard serial EEPROMs, one supporting I2C and the other supporting SPI.

“This allows system developers to add security to existing systems without retooling their printed circuit board,” said the supplier.

The devices also offer the AES-CCM (AES in Counter and Cipher block chaining modes with message authentication code) authentication.

The Atmel ATAES132 development kits can be plugged into a variety of Atmel AVR or ARM-based development kits.

All ATAES132 devices support 2.5V to 5.5V supply voltages and consume less than 250nA standby/sleep current.