Difference between revisions of "OPTIGA Trust E evaluation kit"

From Embedded Lab Vienna for IoT & Security
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(19 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
== Summary ==
== Summary ==


This article gives an overview about the functions and use case of the Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit. The XMC4500 chip from the board enables a secure communication in the IoT environment by providing integrity of the data. This can be achieved with the help of cryptographic certificates.


This summary gives an overview of the cryptographic applications of the microcontroller XMC4500 Relax Kit and the Optiga Trust E with security features.
In the end a short conclusion about the poor usability of the board is given. By now, the board can only be used with an x64-based Windows machines and programming the microcontroller requires a good basic knowledge in this field. Infineon's support is also not really given anymore for the Kit.


== Used Hardware/Software ==


== Infineon development tools - First Steps ==
<p>Infineon requests the user to register at www.infineon.com under the myInfineon portal to get all relevant information and software regarding the actual kit. However the XMC4500 Relax Kit can not be registered anymore on the myInfineon platform. Therefore, the DAVE IDE has to be installed manually. The link for the DAVE installer is provided below. Alternatively, the Keil MDK can be used.</p>


=== Infineon development tools ===


<p>Registration at www.infineon.com to find all the important information about the XMC4500 and the Optiga Trist E evaluation kit.
<p>Download-Link for Dave ™  version 4.5 (Windows only)</p>
We need the following program: DAVE ™  version 4, which is compatible with our kit.</p>
[https://softwaretools.infineon.com/tools/com.ifx.tb.tool.daveide DAVE version 4.5]


<br/>
<p>Download-Link for Example Codes</p>
<p>Enclosed the download link</p>
[https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/promopages/aim-mc/dave_downloads.html DAVE Code Examples]
[https://github.com/Infineon/arduino-optiga-trust-e ARDUINO Code Examples]
 
<p> First Steps </p>
[https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-DAVE_Quick_Start-GS-v02_00-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4624cb7f111014d059f7b8c712d Quick Start - Simple LED Blinky]


https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/microcontroller/32-bit-industrial-microcontroller-based-on-arm-cortex-m/?redirId=53843#!tools
The DAVE ™ package contains the IDE and all required libraries. There's also a quick start tutorial for DAVE in the installation folder.


<br/>


<p>The following data must be filled out in order to load and send the program:</p>
=== Datasheets ===


https://infineoncommunity.com/dave-download_ID645
<ul>
<li>[https://www.infineon.com/cms/de/product/evaluation-boards/optiga-trust-e-eval-kit/ Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit Overview]</li>
<li>[https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Board_Users_Manual_XMC4500_Relax_Kit-V1_R1.2_released.pdf?fileId=db3a30433acf32c9013adf6b97b112f9 XMC4500 Board User’s Manual]</li>
<li>[https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-OPTIGA%20TRUST%20E%20SLS%2032AIA-DS-v01_00-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4625e37f35a015e56cfb42f5b81 Optiga Trust E Datasheet]</li>
<li>[https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-OPTIGA_Trust_E_DesignIn_Application_Note_V1_0-AN-v01_00-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4625d5945ed015d6043dff8543a Application Note for Optiga Trust E]</li>
<li>[https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-OPTIGA_Trust_E_SLS32AIA-PB-v09_17-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4624e765da5014eaabac63f5a38 Optiga Trust E Product Brief]</li>
<li>[https://usermanual.wiki/Document/OPTIGATrustXSolutionReferenceManualv135.2125473546/view/ Optiga Trust E/X Reference Manual]</li>
</ul>


<br/>
<br/>
The DAVE ™ package contains the IDE and all required libraries (DAVE ™ APPs, XMC ™ Lib, Device and Board Support Package, and Device Descriptions).


=== OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit ===


== OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit  ==
[[Optiga_Trust_E_Evaluation_Kit]]


The Infineon Technologies OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit evaluates and demonstrates Security for IoT peripherals. The kit features a PC plug-in board based on the XMC microcontroller and comes with a free to use GitHub repo software based on the open-source-application [http://www.arduino.cc Arduino]. The OPTIGA ™ Trust E Evaluation Kit allows the user to try out OPTIGA Trust E applications, including authentication, adding cryptographic certificates, and read/write data.


The Infineon Technologies OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit evaluates and demonstrates the OPTIGA ™ Trust B Authentication Device. This kit features a PC plug-in board based on the XMC microcontroller and comes with software that provides the user with an intuitive graphical user interface. The OPTIGA ™ Trust E Evaluation Kit allows the user to try out OPTIGA Trust E applications, including authentication, adding cryptographic certificates, and read / write data. This evaluation kit can either be used to debug the Host Lib code or to demonstrate the key features of the OPTIGA ™ Trust E through the intuitive PC GUI.
The OPTIGA ™ Trust E Evaluation Kit helps protect services, business models and user experience. This security solution uniquely identifies objects and protects PKI networks based on their one-way authentication mechanism. In addition, the Board protects the quality and safety of products.


<br/>
The OPTIGA Trust E is based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with 256-bit, AES128 and SHA-256. This security technology greatly enhances the security of the entire system. In addition, the OPTIGA Trust E covers a wide range of applications to protect the authentication, security and confidentiality of embedded devices. These include mutual authentication, secure communication, data store protection, lifecycle management, secured updates, and platform integrity protection.
The OPTIGA ™ Trust E helps protect services, business models and user experience. This security solution uniquely identifies objects and protects PKI networks based on their one-way authentication mechanism. In addition, the OPTIGA Trust E protects the quality and safety of products.


<br/>
The OPTIGA Trust E is based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with 256-bit, AES128 and SHA-256. This security technology greatly enhances the security of the entire system. In addition, the OPTIGA Trust E covers a wide range of applications to protect the authentication, security and confidentiality of embedded devices. These include mutual authentication, secure communication, data store protection, lifecycle management, secured updates, and platform integrity protection.
The out-of-the-box facility, with full system integration and pre-programmed essentials, reduces design, integration and deployment requirements. As a ready-to-use solution, the OPTIGA Trust E comes with OS, embedded application and full host-side integration support.
The out-of-the-box facility, with full system integration and pre-programmed essentials, reduces design, integration and deployment requirements. As a ready-to-use solution, the OPTIGA Trust E comes with OS, embedded application and full host-side integration support.




== Security Features ==
==== Characteristics ====
 
 
Cryptographic support: ECC256, AES128, SHA-256, TRNG (TrueRandomNumberGenerator), DRNG (DigitalRandomNumberGenerator)
 
 
== Characteristics ==


<ul>
<ul>
<li>High-end security controller</li>
<li>High-end security controller</li>
<li>Ready to use solution</li>
<li>One-way authentication with ECDSA</li>
<li>One-way authentication with ECDSA</li>
<li>Mutual authentication with DTLS client (standard RFC 6347)</li>
<li>Mutual authentication with DTLS client (standard RFC 6347)</li>
Line 61: Line 67:
</ul>
</ul>


== Applications ==
 
==== Security Features ====
 
 
Cryptographic support:
 
<ul>
<li>ECC256</li>
<li>AES128</li>
<li>SHA-256</li>
<li>TRNG (TrueRandomNumberGenerator)</li>
<li>DRNG (DigitalRandomNumberGenerator)</li>
</ul>
 
 
==== Functions ====
 
The Board provides three main functions for the user:


<ul>
<ul>
<li>Industrial control and automation</li>
<li>One-Way Authentication</li>
<li>Consumer electronics</li>
<li>Cryptographic Certificates</li>  
<li>Smart Home</li>
<li>Read and Write Data</li>  
<li>Medical equipment</li>
</ul>
</ul>


== AES - Advanced Encryption Standard ==
 
[[File:One-Way_Authentication.png|500px|https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-OPTIGA_Trust_E_DesignIn_Application_Note_V1_0-AN-v01_00-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4625d5945ed015d6043dff8543a]]
 
 
Step 1 to 3: The host sends an "Open Application" command to the client to start the authentication process. The client reads and verifies the certificate. To verify the certificate, all intermediate certificates and the trusted root certificate are required.
 
Step 4 to 8: The security of the authentication process depends heavily on the quality of the random numbers. In case of repetitions in the pattern, a replay attack may occur. To prevent this, the random numbers are signed with the kit's private key in step 4. Finally, the signature is verified using the public key from the previously obtained device certificate. To successfully authenticate a client, the decrypted signature message and the random number (originally sent) must match.
 
 
==Used Technology==
 
==== AES - Advanced Encryption Standard ====




Advanced Encryption Standard, AES for short, is a symmetric encryption method. Since the end of 2001, Rijndeal has been officially standardized as AES in the US by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). It is used for the encryption of documents and communication connections. AES is not patented and therefore freely usable.
Advanced Encryption Standard, AES for short, is a symmetric encryption method. Since the end of 2001, Rijndeal has been officially standardized as AES in the US by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). It is used for the encryption of documents and communication connections. AES is not patented and therefore freely usable.


<br/>
Rijndael and AES are block ciphers based on a substitution-permutation network (SPN). The procedure alternates between substitution and permutation at each step. The transformation of the plaintext occurs in several rounds of the same structure. The plaintext is not processed as a whole, but in blocks.
Rijndael and AES are block ciphers based on a substitution-permutation network (SPN). The procedure alternates between substitution and permutation at each step. The transformation of the plaintext occurs in several rounds of the same structure. The plaintext is not processed as a whole, but in blocks.


<br/>
For Rijndael, block length and key length can be independently 128, 160, 192, 224 or 256 bits. For AES, the block length is set to 128 bits and the key size to 128 (10 rounds), 192 (12 rounds), and 256 bits (14 rounds).
For Rijndael, block length and key length can be independently 128, 160, 192, 224 or 256 bits. For AES, the block length is set to 128 bits and the key size to 128 (10 rounds), 192 (12 rounds), and 256 bits (14 rounds).
The AES decryption necessarily requires that the same steps be followed as with encryption. Just in reverse order. It is, in a way, a weakness of AES.
The AES decryption necessarily requires that the same steps be followed as with encryption. Just in reverse order. It is, in a way, a weakness of AES.




== ECC - Elliptic Curve Cryptography ==
==== ECC - Elliptic Curve Cryptography ====




Crypto-systems and methods based on elliptic curves are referred to as ECC methods. ECC procedures have been part of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards since 1999. ECC methods are among the asymmetric encryption methods. The number after the hyphen refers to the key length. Typical applications of ECC are the key exchange and signature procedures. Also, Mozilla Foundation products (including Firefox, Thunderbird) support ECC with min. 256 bit key length.
Crypto-systems and methods based on elliptic curves are referred to as ECC methods. ECC procedures have been part of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards since 1999. ECC methods are among the asymmetric encryption methods. The number after the hyphen refers to the key length. Typical applications of ECC are the key exchange and signature procedures. Also, Mozilla Foundation products (including Firefox, Thunderbird) support ECC with min. 256 bit key length.


<br/>
Roughly speaking, ECC methods are based on operations with pairs of points on certain elliptic curves. Despite the complexity, the mathematics behind the ECC methods has been sufficiently well researched. Most cryptographers recommend ECC methods to be preferred.
Roughly speaking, ECC methods are based on operations with pairs of points on certain elliptic curves. Despite the complexity, the mathematics behind the ECC methods has been sufficiently well researched. Most cryptographers recommend ECC methods to be preferred.
The use of elliptic curves requires that both communication partners support the same curve. That means you can not just use any curve. It has to be a specific one.
The use of elliptic curves requires that both communication partners support the same curve. That means you can not just use any curve. It has to be a specific one.




== SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1 / SHA-2 / SHA-3) ==
==== SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1 / SHA-2 / SHA-3) ====




The Secure Hash Algorithm, SHA for short, and all its versions, are cryptographic hash functions. These are used to calculate a check value for any digital data (messages) and are among other things the basis for creating a digital signature. The check value is used to ensure the integrity of a message. If two messages produce the same check value, the equality of the messages should be guaranteed in their normal discretion, without prejudice to specific attempted manipulation of the messages. That's why we require a cryptographic hash function, the property of collision safety: it should be virtually impossible to create two different messages with the same test value.
The Secure Hash Algorithm, SHA for short, and all its versions, are cryptographic hash functions. These are used to calculate a check value for any digital data (messages) and are among other things the basis for creating a digital signature. The check value is used to ensure the integrity of a message. If two messages produce the same check value, the equality of the messages should be guaranteed in their normal discretion, without prejudice to specific attempted manipulation of the messages. That's why we require a cryptographic hash function, the property of collision safety: it should be virtually impossible to create two different messages with the same test value.


<br/>
SHA was developed by the US secret service NSA on behalf of the US standardization authority NIST. SHA is used in all popular web applications and network protocols. PGP, SSL, IPsec and S / MIME. And of course with different signature methods. For example, for signing certificates.
SHA was developed by the US secret service NSA on behalf of the US standardization authority NIST. SHA is used in all popular web applications and network protocols. PGP, SSL, IPsec and S / MIME. And of course with different signature methods. For example, for signing certificates.
The original SHA is referred to as SHA-1 to distinguish it from its successors SHA-2 and SHA-3. SHA-3 should not replace SHA-2, but is an alternative. Should SHA-2 be broken at some point, you can go to SHA-3.
The original SHA is referred to as SHA-1 to distinguish it from its successors SHA-2 and SHA-3. SHA-3 should not replace SHA-2, but is an alternative. Should SHA-2 be broken at some point, you can go to SHA-3.


==== Cryptographic Certificates ====
Cryptographic Certificates are a way to map a public key to a corresponding entity. In this case, the entity can be anything (a person, a server, a thing). By using certificates the user can be 100% sure that the messages were really sent by the corresponding entity.
Certificates must be verified by the Kit. This process is part of the "One-Way Authentication". The Kit needs to verify all certificates up to the "Certificate Authority" (CA). The CA is the end of the the certificate chain and all communication partners need to trust this Authority.
== Application Field ==
The Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit was designed so support any kind of IoT Application. Here are some examples where the Kit could be used:
<ul>
<li>Industrial Control and Automation</li>
<li>Consumer Electronics</li>
<li>Smart Home</li>
<li>Medical Equipment</li>
</ul>
<p>The Kit is build to support the Security of any IoT peripheral. Most of the devices do not have their own security protocol implemented because of the huge limitations in IoT. However, the underlying microcontroller programming and the missing support from Infineon are the reasons why the board was never widely used in private environment. </p>


== Objective and results of the project ==
== Objective and results of the project ==


Our first objective was to test a simple Led blinking program to determine wether our XMC4500 board was working as it is supposed to. To do that we wanted to use the DAVE ™ 4 as it was recommended by Infineon. Therefore, we downloadet the application and installed it according to the Quick installation guide that came with the download. We also updated the Segger JLink. After updating the library and downloading example codes on the Dave application itself, we build the project and tried to connect it to the board. But the microcontroller was not recognized by the program, the JLink couldn't be found. We tried a lot of steps to solve this problem including updating the JLink another time, trying to connect the board directly to the Dave application, trying other example codes etc. Our first move was to try if the application would work on Keil MDK. We were able to let the application run on Keil but we still wanted to find a solution for Dave. We had the idea to try older versions of Dave ™ 4 (Dave ™ 3). So we did the first steps all over again and connected the board with a example application made for Dave ™ 3. This again didn't work. Therefore we also installed an older JLink. And with this the example code could be finally loaded onto the board. At this point we were able to let the Leds toggle. We wanted to see if with these updates Dave ™ 4 would work too. So we tried the Dave ™ 4 example code another time and it worked. At this point we wanted to continue to use Dave ™ 4.
=== Getting started with DAVE ===
 
The first objective was to test a simple Led toggling program to determine wether the XMC4500 board is working as it is supposed to. To do that the DAVE ™ 4 environment was used as it is recommended by Infineon. After the download and installation of Dave ™ 4 according to the Quick installation guide that came with the download, the Segger JLink needs to be installed and the libraries need to be updated as well. The first example code can be tested by downloading it on the Dave application itself, then building and debugging it. In this case, there was a problem. The microcontroller was not recognized by the program, the JLink couldn't be found. Following approaches were taken:
 
<ul>
<li>update the Segger JLink</li>
<li>checking the preferences of Dave ™ 4</li>
<li>trying other example codes</li>
<li>contact the Infineon Support</li>
<li>etc.</li>
</ul>
 
It has turned out, that DAVE 4 is not compatible with the latest J-Link driver. Also the promised GUI from the Infineon-website does not exist. After talking to the support of Infineon it was clear that there is no "Demo Software" for private usage.
 
The next approach was to see if the microcontroller would run on Keil MDK, A simple LED blinking examples code was installed and successfully run on the Keil environment. This meant that the microcontroller was actually able to connect to the PC. The next move was to try out older versions of Dave (Dave ™ 3), which also didn't work. So an older version of the Segger JLink was installed, and finally the board could be connected to Dave, it worked on both Dave ™ 3 and Dave ™ 4. The LED toggling code worked properly.  
 
=== Functions ===


AES: The AES example code can be installed through the Dave ™ 4 Project Library. The installation is described on the corresponding Readme-file. Another problem appeared after running the code trough the debugger. The application was supposed to let the Led blink if the values of the key and the decryption output matched. But even though they did the Led still wouldn't toggle. The approach was to configure USART to be able to connect the microcontroller with TeraTerm so that the user can see if the algorithm worked correctly. But because of the fact that the XMC4500 was only recognized by the Dave application and not by the PC itself, there was no COM-Port found by TeraTerm. Therefore the final step was to set one of the other Leds as the output and to let the Led blink at the start and turn it off after the values matched by setting the 'Initial Output Level' of the Digital I/O pin to high. 


AES: We configured the AES example code that came with the Dave ™ 4 Project Library as it was described on the corresponding Reade-file. Afterwards we activated the debugger to see if the code was working properly. But each time we let the debugger run, the Led would blink only if the initial input & decryption output wouldn't match, and they never did match even if they were supposed to. So we checked our configuration and saw that it wasn't according to the Readme-file. There were a few slip ups. After fixing that, the code worked properly, the initial input was the same as the decryption output, but this time the Led wouldn't toggle. So we had the idea to work with USART & Tera Term to let an output appear that encryption & decryption worked, even though toggling the Led didn't. But this didn't work because Tera Term couldn't find a serial COM-Port. We weren't able to find a solution to this idea of ours, so we dismissed it.


ECC & SHA: There are no example codes distributed from Infineon for the ECC and SHA algorithms, but a few C example codes can be found on the internet. The example codes that were tested for these projects can be found on the 'References' part of this aritcle. There were error messages on all of these example codes. Almost all the time the problem was the included library. Either there were some files missing or the files coulnd't be found on that path. Another problem was that the code was not compatible with the Dave ™ 4 interface. The example codes were modified to try to solve these error messages. Either the paths of the files were changed or new library files were added. But with each modification, new error messages popped up. For this project especially the Optiga Trust X Framework code on Github seemed to be a good choice for cryptographical algorithms for Dave ™ 4. But, again, the problem was to integrate the two branches of the code, develop & master, so that the library files were complete. But even though the paths to the files were changed in the code or/and the location of these files were changed, the error messages couldn't still be resolved. There are probably other underlying problems for these errors.


ECC & SHA: There are no example codes distributed from Infineon, but a few C example codes can be found on the internet for the ECDH & SHA algorithms. We tried a few of these codes, but there were a lot of problems that we had to face. Almost all the time the problem was the included library. Either there were some files missing or file coulnd't be found on that path. Another problem was that the code was not compatible with the Dave ™ 4 interface. For each code we tested we tried to solve these problems by trying to modify it so that the code can be run on Dave, or by changing the paths to of the files or adding additional library files to the application. Especially the Optiga Trust X Framework code on Github seemed to be a good choice for cryptographical algorithms for Dave ™ 4. But, again, the problem was to integrate the two branches of the code, develop & master, so that library files were complete. But even though we tried to modify the paths to the files or/and changed the location of these files, the paths couldn't still be found. Our guess is that there are more underlying problems for these errors.
=== Conclusion ===


Unpredictable Problems with Dave ™ 4: There is barely any documentation on how to use Dave ™ 4 or solutions to problems on writing code or handling error messages, not even on the Infineon webpage. The example codes just explained how to get the code running but they didn't say what the application is really supposed to do, the user doesn't really know what the input & the output should be or what to do in case of an error.
Unpredictable Problems with Dave ™ 4: There is barely any documentation on how to use Dave ™ 4 or solutions to problems on writing code or handling error messages, not even on the Infineon webpage. The example codes just explained how to get the code running but they didn't say what the application is really supposed to do, the user doesn't really know what the input & the output should be or what to do in case of an error. Also the support from Infineon was not very helpful in this case. The only thing provided by Infineon was the DAVE IDE and some Code Examples. The next thing is the huge amount of effort that must be taken when simply installing a test program on the kit. The IDE must be installed manually as well as the drivers and the debugger does still not work. This is frustrating when thinking about to implement a cryptographic functions on the kit.


== References ==
Problems with Arduino: On the official "Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit" Website is a link to a GitHub Repo with Arduino Code examples. Unfortunately you can not use these examples because the board is not detected in the Arduino IDE. Also after installing the requires drivers the board ist still not detected.


<references/>
To sum this up: the board has a poor compatibility to other devices. For some reason you can only connect the board to a x64-based Windows-machine. Also the DAVE IDE does only exist for Windows. The next problem are the drivers. Infineon requests the user to install external J-Link drivers to run the debugger but also with the installed drivers the debugger does not work. This makes it nearly impossible to deploy any security related applications with the Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit. Overall it's very hard to use the board and his functions.
Description:


<p>https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Board_Users_Manual_XMC4500_Relax_Kit-V1_R1.2_released.pdf?fileId=db3a30433acf32c9013adf6b97b112f9<p>
== Courses ==
<p>https://www.infineon.com/cms/de/product/evaluation-boards/optiga-trust-e-eval-kit/<p>
<p>https://www.mouser.at/new/Infineon-Technologies/infineon-optiga-trust-e-eval-kit/<p>
<p>https://www.infineon.com/cms/de/product/evaluation-boards/kit_xmc45_relax_v1/<p>
<p>https://www.mikrocontroller.net/articles/XMC4500<p>


* [[Einführendes_Wahlfachprojekt]] (2019)


Sample Code AES:
== References ==
<p>https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/promopages/aim-mc/dave_downloads.html</p>


Sample Code ECDH & SHA:
<ul>
<p>https://github.com/Infineon/getstarted-optiga-trust-x</p>
<li>Overview of XMC-Microcontrollers & Software:
<p>https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/microcontroller/32-bit-industrial-microcontroller-based-on-arm-cortex-m/?redirId=53843#!tools</p></li>


Small sample Code ECDH:
<li>Sample Code AES:
<p>https://github.com/kokke/tiny-ECDH-c</p>
<p>https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/promopages/aim-mc/dave_downloads.html</p></li>
 
<li>Sample Code ECDH & SHA:
<p>https://github.com/Infineon/getstarted-optiga-trust-x</p></li>
 
<li>Small sample Code ECDH:
<p>https://github.com/kokke/tiny-ECDH-c</p></li>
</ul>


[[Category:Basic]]
[[Category:Documentation]]

Latest revision as of 19:44, 6 January 2022

Summary

This article gives an overview about the functions and use case of the Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit. The XMC4500 chip from the board enables a secure communication in the IoT environment by providing integrity of the data. This can be achieved with the help of cryptographic certificates.

In the end a short conclusion about the poor usability of the board is given. By now, the board can only be used with an x64-based Windows machines and programming the microcontroller requires a good basic knowledge in this field. Infineon's support is also not really given anymore for the Kit.

Used Hardware/Software

Infineon requests the user to register at www.infineon.com under the myInfineon portal to get all relevant information and software regarding the actual kit. However the XMC4500 Relax Kit can not be registered anymore on the myInfineon platform. Therefore, the DAVE IDE has to be installed manually. The link for the DAVE installer is provided below. Alternatively, the Keil MDK can be used.

Infineon development tools

Download-Link for Dave ™ version 4.5 (Windows only)

DAVE version 4.5

Download-Link for Example Codes

DAVE Code Examples ARDUINO Code Examples

First Steps

Quick Start - Simple LED Blinky

The DAVE ™ package contains the IDE and all required libraries. There's also a quick start tutorial for DAVE in the installation folder.


Datasheets


OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit

Optiga_Trust_E_Evaluation_Kit

The Infineon Technologies OPTIGA ™ Trust E-Evaluation Kit evaluates and demonstrates Security for IoT peripherals. The kit features a PC plug-in board based on the XMC microcontroller and comes with a free to use GitHub repo software based on the open-source-application Arduino. The OPTIGA ™ Trust E Evaluation Kit allows the user to try out OPTIGA Trust E applications, including authentication, adding cryptographic certificates, and read/write data.

The OPTIGA ™ Trust E Evaluation Kit helps protect services, business models and user experience. This security solution uniquely identifies objects and protects PKI networks based on their one-way authentication mechanism. In addition, the Board protects the quality and safety of products.

The OPTIGA Trust E is based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with 256-bit, AES128 and SHA-256. This security technology greatly enhances the security of the entire system. In addition, the OPTIGA Trust E covers a wide range of applications to protect the authentication, security and confidentiality of embedded devices. These include mutual authentication, secure communication, data store protection, lifecycle management, secured updates, and platform integrity protection.

The out-of-the-box facility, with full system integration and pre-programmed essentials, reduces design, integration and deployment requirements. As a ready-to-use solution, the OPTIGA Trust E comes with OS, embedded application and full host-side integration support.


Characteristics

  • High-end security controller
  • One-way authentication with ECDSA
  • Mutual authentication with DTLS client (standard RFC 6347)
  • Secure communication with DTLS
  • Compliant with USB Type-C ™ authentication standard
  • I2C interface
  • Cryptographic support: ECC256, AES128, SHA-256, TRNG, DRNG
  • Standard and extended temperature ranges
  • Complete system integration support
  • Common Criteria certified EAL6 + (high) hardware
  • Cryptographic Toolbox based on ECC NIST P256, P384 and SHA256 (register, verify, key generation, ECDH, session key derivation)


Security Features

Cryptographic support:

  • ECC256
  • AES128
  • SHA-256
  • TRNG (TrueRandomNumberGenerator)
  • DRNG (DigitalRandomNumberGenerator)


Functions

The Board provides three main functions for the user:

  • One-Way Authentication
  • Cryptographic Certificates
  • Read and Write Data


https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-OPTIGA_Trust_E_DesignIn_Application_Note_V1_0-AN-v01_00-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4625d5945ed015d6043dff8543a


Step 1 to 3: The host sends an "Open Application" command to the client to start the authentication process. The client reads and verifies the certificate. To verify the certificate, all intermediate certificates and the trusted root certificate are required.

Step 4 to 8: The security of the authentication process depends heavily on the quality of the random numbers. In case of repetitions in the pattern, a replay attack may occur. To prevent this, the random numbers are signed with the kit's private key in step 4. Finally, the signature is verified using the public key from the previously obtained device certificate. To successfully authenticate a client, the decrypted signature message and the random number (originally sent) must match.


Used Technology

AES - Advanced Encryption Standard

Advanced Encryption Standard, AES for short, is a symmetric encryption method. Since the end of 2001, Rijndeal has been officially standardized as AES in the US by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). It is used for the encryption of documents and communication connections. AES is not patented and therefore freely usable.

Rijndael and AES are block ciphers based on a substitution-permutation network (SPN). The procedure alternates between substitution and permutation at each step. The transformation of the plaintext occurs in several rounds of the same structure. The plaintext is not processed as a whole, but in blocks.

For Rijndael, block length and key length can be independently 128, 160, 192, 224 or 256 bits. For AES, the block length is set to 128 bits and the key size to 128 (10 rounds), 192 (12 rounds), and 256 bits (14 rounds). The AES decryption necessarily requires that the same steps be followed as with encryption. Just in reverse order. It is, in a way, a weakness of AES.


ECC - Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Crypto-systems and methods based on elliptic curves are referred to as ECC methods. ECC procedures have been part of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards since 1999. ECC methods are among the asymmetric encryption methods. The number after the hyphen refers to the key length. Typical applications of ECC are the key exchange and signature procedures. Also, Mozilla Foundation products (including Firefox, Thunderbird) support ECC with min. 256 bit key length.

Roughly speaking, ECC methods are based on operations with pairs of points on certain elliptic curves. Despite the complexity, the mathematics behind the ECC methods has been sufficiently well researched. Most cryptographers recommend ECC methods to be preferred. The use of elliptic curves requires that both communication partners support the same curve. That means you can not just use any curve. It has to be a specific one.


SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1 / SHA-2 / SHA-3)

The Secure Hash Algorithm, SHA for short, and all its versions, are cryptographic hash functions. These are used to calculate a check value for any digital data (messages) and are among other things the basis for creating a digital signature. The check value is used to ensure the integrity of a message. If two messages produce the same check value, the equality of the messages should be guaranteed in their normal discretion, without prejudice to specific attempted manipulation of the messages. That's why we require a cryptographic hash function, the property of collision safety: it should be virtually impossible to create two different messages with the same test value.

SHA was developed by the US secret service NSA on behalf of the US standardization authority NIST. SHA is used in all popular web applications and network protocols. PGP, SSL, IPsec and S / MIME. And of course with different signature methods. For example, for signing certificates. The original SHA is referred to as SHA-1 to distinguish it from its successors SHA-2 and SHA-3. SHA-3 should not replace SHA-2, but is an alternative. Should SHA-2 be broken at some point, you can go to SHA-3.


Cryptographic Certificates

Cryptographic Certificates are a way to map a public key to a corresponding entity. In this case, the entity can be anything (a person, a server, a thing). By using certificates the user can be 100% sure that the messages were really sent by the corresponding entity.

Certificates must be verified by the Kit. This process is part of the "One-Way Authentication". The Kit needs to verify all certificates up to the "Certificate Authority" (CA). The CA is the end of the the certificate chain and all communication partners need to trust this Authority.

Application Field

The Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit was designed so support any kind of IoT Application. Here are some examples where the Kit could be used:

  • Industrial Control and Automation
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Smart Home
  • Medical Equipment

The Kit is build to support the Security of any IoT peripheral. Most of the devices do not have their own security protocol implemented because of the huge limitations in IoT. However, the underlying microcontroller programming and the missing support from Infineon are the reasons why the board was never widely used in private environment.

Objective and results of the project

Getting started with DAVE

The first objective was to test a simple Led toggling program to determine wether the XMC4500 board is working as it is supposed to. To do that the DAVE ™ 4 environment was used as it is recommended by Infineon. After the download and installation of Dave ™ 4 according to the Quick installation guide that came with the download, the Segger JLink needs to be installed and the libraries need to be updated as well. The first example code can be tested by downloading it on the Dave application itself, then building and debugging it. In this case, there was a problem. The microcontroller was not recognized by the program, the JLink couldn't be found. Following approaches were taken:

  • update the Segger JLink
  • checking the preferences of Dave ™ 4
  • trying other example codes
  • contact the Infineon Support
  • etc.

It has turned out, that DAVE 4 is not compatible with the latest J-Link driver. Also the promised GUI from the Infineon-website does not exist. After talking to the support of Infineon it was clear that there is no "Demo Software" for private usage.

The next approach was to see if the microcontroller would run on Keil MDK, A simple LED blinking examples code was installed and successfully run on the Keil environment. This meant that the microcontroller was actually able to connect to the PC. The next move was to try out older versions of Dave (Dave ™ 3), which also didn't work. So an older version of the Segger JLink was installed, and finally the board could be connected to Dave, it worked on both Dave ™ 3 and Dave ™ 4. The LED toggling code worked properly.

Functions

AES: The AES example code can be installed through the Dave ™ 4 Project Library. The installation is described on the corresponding Readme-file. Another problem appeared after running the code trough the debugger. The application was supposed to let the Led blink if the values of the key and the decryption output matched. But even though they did the Led still wouldn't toggle. The approach was to configure USART to be able to connect the microcontroller with TeraTerm so that the user can see if the algorithm worked correctly. But because of the fact that the XMC4500 was only recognized by the Dave application and not by the PC itself, there was no COM-Port found by TeraTerm. Therefore the final step was to set one of the other Leds as the output and to let the Led blink at the start and turn it off after the values matched by setting the 'Initial Output Level' of the Digital I/O pin to high.


ECC & SHA: There are no example codes distributed from Infineon for the ECC and SHA algorithms, but a few C example codes can be found on the internet. The example codes that were tested for these projects can be found on the 'References' part of this aritcle. There were error messages on all of these example codes. Almost all the time the problem was the included library. Either there were some files missing or the files coulnd't be found on that path. Another problem was that the code was not compatible with the Dave ™ 4 interface. The example codes were modified to try to solve these error messages. Either the paths of the files were changed or new library files were added. But with each modification, new error messages popped up. For this project especially the Optiga Trust X Framework code on Github seemed to be a good choice for cryptographical algorithms for Dave ™ 4. But, again, the problem was to integrate the two branches of the code, develop & master, so that the library files were complete. But even though the paths to the files were changed in the code or/and the location of these files were changed, the error messages couldn't still be resolved. There are probably other underlying problems for these errors.

Conclusion

Unpredictable Problems with Dave ™ 4: There is barely any documentation on how to use Dave ™ 4 or solutions to problems on writing code or handling error messages, not even on the Infineon webpage. The example codes just explained how to get the code running but they didn't say what the application is really supposed to do, the user doesn't really know what the input & the output should be or what to do in case of an error. Also the support from Infineon was not very helpful in this case. The only thing provided by Infineon was the DAVE IDE and some Code Examples. The next thing is the huge amount of effort that must be taken when simply installing a test program on the kit. The IDE must be installed manually as well as the drivers and the debugger does still not work. This is frustrating when thinking about to implement a cryptographic functions on the kit.

Problems with Arduino: On the official "Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit" Website is a link to a GitHub Repo with Arduino Code examples. Unfortunately you can not use these examples because the board is not detected in the Arduino IDE. Also after installing the requires drivers the board ist still not detected.

To sum this up: the board has a poor compatibility to other devices. For some reason you can only connect the board to a x64-based Windows-machine. Also the DAVE IDE does only exist for Windows. The next problem are the drivers. Infineon requests the user to install external J-Link drivers to run the debugger but also with the installed drivers the debugger does not work. This makes it nearly impossible to deploy any security related applications with the Optiga Trust E Evaluation Kit. Overall it's very hard to use the board and his functions.

Courses

References

Retrieved from "https://wiki.elvis.science/index.php?title=OPTIGA_Trust_E_evaluation_kit&oldid=9387"