News & Events

nCipher plc (LSE: NCH), a global leader in protecting critical enterprise data, announces the immediate availability of its miniHSM^TM – the world’s first embedded hardware security module (HSM). Designed to provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with a simple, secure, drop-in solution for data encryption, digital signing and strong authentication, the miniHSM allows nCipher’s customers to integrate pre-validated cryptographic security into a diverse range of product areas, including digital cinema projectors, electronic voting terminals, retail point-of-sale infrastructure, immigration border control and document processing machinery.

“HSMs are already the standard for securing cryptographic keys in servers, where nCipher has been the market leader for many years,” says Richard Moulds, vice president of marketing at nCipher. “With the increasingly widespread use of cryptography, dedicated hardware security technology is now required in a far greater range of devices. Laptops and desktop PCs now arrive from the factory with trusted platform modules (TPMs) installed for key protection and to support the security requirements of desktop software such as Microsoft’s Vista operating system. nCipher has worked with several semiconductor vendors to provide hardware security functionality for devices that fall outside the world of PCs and servers, particularly those in highly cost sensitive markets. The miniHSM fills the remaining gap in the market to offer FIPS-validated (Federal Information Processing Standard) security to developers that require greater flexibility and functionality as they seek to secure a wide range of non-PC based devices that nevertheless handle very sensitive information.”

miniHSM is about the size of a pack of chewing gum, but within this small form factor it provides embedded HSM functionality to enable a simplified and highly cost effective means to enable tamper-resistant hardware protection of encryption keys with a pre-validated FIPS 140-2 level 3 security rating. The small footprint and ease of integration of miniHSM allows manufacturers to embed HSM functionality into devices where space and power are at a premium.

nCipher’s miniHSM supports a wide range of cryptographic algorithms, including all common symmetric- and asymmetric-key cryptographic algorithms (including 3DES, AES, RSA, DH etc.) as well as more specialist algorithms such as Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) . Incorporating a true random number generator, miniHSM offers secure cryptographic key provisioning and storage, and a built-in real-time clock enables value-added functionality such as time-stamping in addition to the standard cryptographic functions of encryption, digital signing and authentication. miniHSM also supports nCipher’s suite of developer toolkits including CodeSafe, its unique Secure Execution Engine (SEE) capability for executing high assurance trusted custom applications within the device’s security boundary.

“It takes specialist skills to develop secure cryptographic systems and often years to achieve validation to externally imposed standards such as FIPS,” says Moulds. “With miniHSM, OEMs can significantly reduce time to market and immediately address the need for security validation without the need to build up internal resources and climb the security learning curve.”

For more information on the miniHSM, as well as photos, please visit http://www.ncipher.com/cryptographic_hardware/hardware_security_modules/72/minihsm

About nCipher

nCipher protects critical enterprise data for many of the world's most security-conscious organizations. Delivering solutions in the fields of identity management, data protection, enterprise key management and cryptographic hardware, nCipher enables businesses to identify who can access data, to protect data in transit and at rest, and to comply with the growing number of privacy-driven regulations. nCipher plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:NCH). www.ncipher.com