News
F-Secure releases new version of flash drive-sized computer
February 2020 by Marc Jacob
Cyber security provider F-Secure’s hardware security professionals at F-Secure Foundry have created a new version of the USB armory – a computer on a USB stick built from the ground up to be secure. The USB armory Mk II entrenches security in its lowest levels and is suitable for a wide range of applications – such as custom hardware security modules, cryptocurrency wallets, secure authentication and licensing tokens, and more – that need the efficiency and flexibility of an embedded computer without sacrificing security.
The team at F-Secure Foundry designed the device in response to security problems encountered when hardware begins to overlap with firmware. As a result, the device represents state-of-the-art orchestration between software, firmware and hardware, while offering a wide variety of security features and high computational power in the smallest of form factors.
The USB armory Mk II’s security features include internal and external cryptographic coprocessors, a true random number generator, secure boot capabilities, and more. These features harden the device against a variety of attacks, including physical tampering techniques that can compromise low-level processes like boot protocols. It’s the extra attention paid to these security issues that make the USB armory uniquely suitable for processing information critical to the integrity of a system.
Furthermore, Barisani says the USB armory’s open source ecosystem ensures that the platform can evolve and grow to support an ever-expanding range of uses, and cites his recently announced TamaGo project as an example of how the platform is evolving.
The USB armory Mk II is now available for order.
