Infineon demos remote PC peripherals authentication with ORIGA authentication chip

BANGALORE, INDIA: Infineon Technologies AG announced that its unique chip-based asymmetric authentication solution has been ported to Intel vPro technology, providing the basis for IT system administrators, OEM Tech Support and Warranty Services to improve the integrity of computer systems.

At the recent Intel Developer Forum 2009, Infineon demonstrated how chip-based authentication can help implement authentication of PC peripherals and improve the integrity of enterprise systems. The Infineon ORIGA (SLE 95050) chip makes it possible to recognize if a peripheral or accessory, such as external storage devices and graphics cards, is original equipment or cloned.

Cloned devices, which may not offer the same level of reliability, quality and warranty as authorized original equipment, cannot be operated on a system configured to work only with authenticated hardware. In environments with Intel vPro technology, IT administrators and other authorized users can use Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) to authenticate system components and perform inventory checks of networked assets.

“Authentication of devices can enhance system security by restricting access if an unauthorized PC peripheral or accessory is attached to a client device,” said Paolo Cocchiglia, Vice President, ASIC and Power IC, Infineon Technologies North America Corp.

“In conjunction with Intel vPro technology, it can also improve reliability and help to reduce maintenance issues by preventing deliberate or accidental use of cloned devices, since an administrator can readily identify any cloned or unauthorized devices attached to a system and address the issue before it causes problems. Together with energy efficiency and communication, security is one of the three focus areas of Infineon.”

“We are committed to creating an ecosystem of suppliers and partners to enhance the native capabilities of Intel vPro technology,” said Larry Wiklund, Director Business Development, Business Client Group, Intel.

“Infineon’s demonstration of hard-wired authentication for system components and peripherals shows how IT administrators can gain access to a new and powerful tool to enhance the integrity of systems and help validate that all hardware in a digital office environment complies with corporate requirements.”

In the demonstration, a USB-stick containing the ORIGA chip acted as a peripheral to be authenticated. In practice, manufacturers of peripherals and accessories, including graphics cards, external storage devices, networking cards, user interface accessories, notebook and netbook batteries, etc., would integrate the chip into their products, working with Infineon to implement a secure authentication supply chain.

The demonstration utilizes the IDE_REDIRECT feature of Intel AMT to illustrate how remote secure manageability from Intel can be coupled with strong and secure authentication technology from Infineon to deliver solutions for a secure digital office.

Infineon’s authentication chip, the ORIGA (SLE 95050), provides asymmetric authentication based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). The low-power chip, with single wire bus interface, can be operated in a bus-powered mode and contains a hardware-protected private key that is integrated into the peripheral device.

The host device only contains a software resident public key that is used in the authentication process. ECC is a more advanced encryption/decryption algorithm than today’s asymmetric systems (i.e. RSA) and the public/private key algorithms are recognized as more secure than symmetric, shared key systems like AES and DES.

The ECC asymmetric authentication technology allows different host-to-peripheral authentication which is independent of the location of the peripheral or the communication interface (wireless, local, wired, chip-to-chip, etc.).

Additional applications of ORIGA technology include allowing service providers (i.e. Internet, data service, media provider) to use secure authentication technology to deliver content to the rightful subscriber or owner, and providing consumers with a tool for secure digital home environments.