Nordic nRF9160 SiP among first of major semiconductor vendor products to gain PSA Certification for IoT trusted security

Nordic Semiconductor’s recently launched nRF9160™ System-in-Package (SiP) LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular IoT module is among the first products to be awarded PSA Certified™ Level 1 certification under a new IoT security initiative spearheaded by Arm.

PSA Certified provides a simple and comprehensive approach to security testing. It comprises two elements: a multi-level, security robustness scheme (Levels 1,2 and 3) and a developer focused API test suite. PSA Certified enables devices makers to achieve the security required for their use case through these three progressive levels of security assurance, each requiring increasingly rigorous hardware and software evaluation, which are assigned by analyzing the use case threat vectors.

“Nordic’s nRF9160 SiP cellular IoT module was designed from the outset to embrace the highest levels of security and PSA certification is an important independent verification of our commitment to that strategy,” says Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO of Nordic Semiconductor. “While certification further reinforces customers’ confidence that the nRF9160 SiP is well protected, the product will form only one part of the IoT. As a leader in the IoT sector, Arm and its test lab partners are well placed to build confidence in the security of the whole IoT ecosystem through PSA Certified and Nordic Semiconductor is excited to partner with them in this important initiative.”

“In a world of a trillion connected devices trust is essential, and it’s our industry’s responsibility to enable this trust,” said Paul Williamson, VP and GM, Emerging Business Group at Arm. “PSA Certified enables IoT solution developers and device makers to verify their solutions have been designed with a secure foundation, in line with PSA principles. Nordic is providing highly integrated Arm®-based cellular IoT solutions and is among the first of our partners to deliver a Level 1 PSA Certified solution with the nRF9160 SiP cellular IoT module.”

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF9160 SiP cellular IoT module is based on an Arm® Cortex®-M33 CPU core and is the first in its class to incorporate Arm TrustZone® and Arm CryptoCell security for Internet-level encryption and application protection. The use of this Arm technology in Nordic’s nRF9160 eased the path to Level 1 because it already encompassed a lot of the security requirements demanded by the certification.