Renesas and wolfSSL enable IoT security solutions with TLS stack and crypto library

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and wolfSSL, a provider of embedded security solutions, have announced a multi-year licensing agreement. Customers of Renesas’ 32-bit MCU offerings can now obtain a free, commercial license for the wolfSSL TLS (Transport Layer Security) stack, with integrated Renesas hardware security engine support. This includes the FIPS certified wolfCrypt crypto library.

All customers of Renesas RA Family, RX Family, and Synergy Platform MCUs are eligible for the commercial license, which includes technical support from wolfSSL.

TLS is the world-wide standard for securing internet communications. A TLS solution built on certified, integrated hardware security engines such as the Renesas TSIP (Trusted Secure IP) and SCE (Secure Crypto Engine) provides the ultimate mechanism to create secure IoT products.

The wolfSSL embedded TLS stack is a lightweight TLS solution written in ANSI C and targeted for embedded, RTOS, and resource-constrained environments — primarily because of its small size, speed, and feature set.

wolfSSL supports industry standards up to the current TLS 1.3 and DTLS 1.2 levels, and is up to 20 times smaller than OpenSSL. In addition to full integration with the Renesas MCU’s hardware security engines, wolfSSL includes the wolfCrypt lightweight crypto library, which has been certified to FIPS 140-2 Level 1.

wolfCrypt also supports the most popular algorithms and ciphers as well as progressive ones such as post-quantum key exchange available through available through the Open Quantum Safe project’s liboqs.

Security is a key differentiator for MCU customers, particularly in the fast-growing IoT market, and Renesas has established leadership in security with a wide range of solutions and certifications. Earlier this year, Renesas announced FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification of the RX65N, the first such certification for a general purpose MCU.

RA Family Arm Cortex-M MCUs achieved PSA Certified Level 2 and Security Evaluation Standard for IoT Platforms certifications, with additional NIST certifications planned. Renesas offers MCU devices with protections against timing and SPA/DPA side-channel attacks on crypto operations. All Families offer devices with unlimited secure key storage, with the RA Family offering simplified secure key installation.

“Renesas shares our passion for security,” said wolfSSL CEO, Larry Stefonic. “We’re pleased that the very large Renesas MCU customer base will now have easy and unfettered access to our market leading cryptography software to implement the best, most up-to-date security. Renesas is making it frictionless for their customers to do more with less effort; isn’t that what the best MCU vendors should do?”