EdgeLock Secure Element simplifies security, improves user experience

NXP Semiconductors has announced the EdgeLock SE051H, a secure element designed for Matter, adding to the industry’s broadest portfolio of Matter devices. The EdgeLock SE051H is a single chip solution with integrated NFC designed to simplify the secure and seamless onboarding of Matter devices and enable new smart home user experiences, such as suggested automations, installation videos and other content with just the tap of an NFC-enabled phone.

Why it matters

The recently launched Matter standard, designed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), is designed to ease device interoperability challenges within the smart home network. It raises the bar on smart home security with numerous features to protect smart home devices, including cryptographic keypairs, digital certificates, and other security-related hardware and firmware requirements.

The EdgeLock SE051H is optimised to support these requirements, including the algorithms and cryptographic functions needed for Matter, making it easy for device manufacturers to incorporate the necessary security protections into end devices.

More details

“The Matter standard was designed with security in mind, recognising that security is an essential component to the future of the smart home,” said Philippe Dubois, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Secure Transactions & Identification, NXP. “The single-chip EdgeLock SE051H makes it easy for developers to secure their Matter-certified smart home devices, while integrated NFC improves the end user Matter experience and allows device makers to differentiate based on that user experience.” The EdgeLock SE051H is Common Criteria EAL 6+ certified and supports the cryptographic operations needed for a Matter-certified smart device. This includes Matter device attestation and certificate-based authentication with ECC cryptography and NIST P-256 curve, as well as the SPAKE2+ algorithm for password authenticated key exchange.

It also includes key security functions such as ECDSA, ECDH, and True Random Number Generator to protect the Matter protocol. In addition, the EdgeLock SE051H has an integrated NFC interface and Type-4 Tag capability.

Securing the smart home with product attestation

Matter’s security requirements include a device attestation certificate, which confirms device authenticity, demonstrates trustworthiness and establishes an authenticated connection with the larger Matter network.

NXP is one of the first semiconductor manufacturers to have been granted trusted Product Attestation Authority status by the CSA, with its EdgeLock 2GO service providing a flexible platform for securely provisioning IoT devices.

EdgeLock 2GO, combined with EdgeLock SE051H, can pre-inject credentials directly into silicon at silicon manufacturing or can deliver the credentials securely over-the-air (OTA) with end-to-end security to simplify supply chain management and in compliance with the Matter standard.