Secure boot & secure update for embedded products 

Make sure only trusted firmware, FPGA bitstreams and updates run on your device. 

 

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Many embedded attacks do not start with broken cryptography, but with weak trust assumptions inside the device. Embedded product teams often face challenges such as manipulated firmware during boot, insecure key storage, unsigned updates, rollback attacks or unprotected FPGA bitstreams.
 
 Security features alone are not enough. 

 

 What matters is a reliable chain of trust across the entire system from boot ROM and bootloader to firmware, FPGA configuration and secure updates. 

We help you to design and implement this chain of trust from reset to authenticated firmware deployment. 

Secure boot and secure update package

1. Boot chain review

  • Analysis of your bootloader, firmware, MCU and FPGA architecture
  • Identification of attack surfaces
  • Review of key storage, debug interfaces and boot verification mechanisms
  • Assessment of secure boot readiness on your target platform

2. Secure update architecture

  • Design of authenticated firmware and FPGA bitstream update flows
  • Secure package verification using signatures, hashing and integrity checks
  • Recovery and fallback concepts for interrupted or failed updates
  • Update sequencing and secure deployment strategy

3. Trust and protection layer

  • Hardware Root of Trust and secure device identity concepts
  • Key-management architecture and secure key storage strategies
  • Anti-rollback protection and firmware version control
  • Optional future-ready signature concepts with ML-DSA (PQC) integration

4. Integration and Documentation

  • Bootloader, HAL/API and driver integration support
  • FPGA, ASIC, MCU and embedded Linux integration concepts
  • Security architecture diagrams and implementation guidance
  • Documentation for internal reviews and compliance preparation

This is for you if

  • You are developing an MCU, FPGA, ASIC or embedded product that needs a secure boot and update architecture.
  • You want to prevent manipulated or outdated firmware from running on your device.
  • You need a reliable chain of trust from bootloader to firmware update.
  • You are preparing your product for requirements driven by regulations like the CRA.
  • You are building long lifecycle embedded systems that require future-proof security concepts.
  • You need secure firmware validation, rollback protection or FPGA bitstream verification.

Why work with us

 Build a secure chain of trust from reset to firmware update. 

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Focused on secure boot and updates

We analyze your hardware architecture (FPGA, MCU, ASIC), data paths, and constraints and derive the right approach from there.

Target platform-aware solution

Secure boot and update mechanisms differ for FPGA, MCU, and ASIC. We evaluate how boot chain verification, key storage, and update sequencing interact with your specific platform.

From concept to implementation

No generic benchmarks. We assess resource usage, timing, and integration effort on your FPGA, MCU or ASIC.

Practical and independent

You get a concrete recommendation: where to anchor trust in your hardware, how to structure authenticated updates, and what trade-offs you are making.

Engineering-driven security expertise

We combine embedded engineering, FPGA development and cryptographic expertise to design security architectures that are practical, implementable and aligned with product constraints.

Start with securing your embedded device today.

Get in touch

About us

KiviCore helps embedded product teams design and implement secure architectures for FPGA, ASIC and embedded systems.

Our expertise combines hardware development, cryptography and embedded security engineering from secure boot and firmware validation to secure updates, key management and hardware-rooted trust concepts.

We focus on practical, implementable security solutions that fit real embedded products, platforms and development constraints.