Secure Anchor Point

The Secure Anchor Point is a trusted processing node that can serve as the point of departure for authenticating other components and communication nodes in a system. Using virtualization technologies and applications developed specifically for the hardware, several trusted or security applications can be run on the same secure processor.

Trusted and Secure

There are several features that elevate the trusted and secure status of the Acalis-based Secure Anchor Point:
• Trusted Design and Manufacture
• Secure Boot Code
• Resistance to Tampering and Reverse-Engineering
• Encrypted Message Passing and Memory Interfaces

Designing for Security

The Secure Anchor Point can be a powerful addition to any system design, as either part of the original system architecture or designed into a system after the architecture design phase as a low impact security overlay. Clearly designing security into the original architecture is more effective, but for legacy systems the secure anchor point can add security to nearly any complex system by watching the expected behavior of a system for unusual or unwanted behavior.

By monitoring a common bus or interrupt structure in a system, an Acalis Secure Anchor Point can access most activity within a system. Utilizing either passives processes, or an interactive one with queries and interrogations initiated by the Acalis device, system security is improved. An adversary can certainly intercept and spoof interrogation traffic, however the secure anchor point is very difficult to reverse engineer and impossible to infect with malware, making intrusions or counterfeit boards very difficult to insert without detection.

Fielding a Secure Anchor Point

Adding an Acalis Secure Anchor Point to a system requires adding labor hours in hardware design, software design, and IT infrastructure, but does not necessitate architectural changes or redesign to an existing system.

Whether viewed as a requirement or an investment, adding a Secure Anchor Point will add value to a system immediately by raising the trust level of both the product and its design team. Detection of out-of-specification parts and counterfeits will occur before systems deployment or failure, and will reduce some of the effort involved in system test and evaluation. Other malware driven behavior is monitored for early warning of infection in non-trusted devices. This enables higher quality and error detection for systems users.