WISeKey Razor and Blade Cybersecurity Business Model is Accelerating the Commercialization of its Semiconductor Products

WISeKey International Holding Ltd (WISeKey) (SIX:WIHN), a leading Swiss cybersecurity and IoT solutions company, announced that its razor and blade cybersecurity business model is accelerating the commercialization of its semiconductor products with embedded security.

WISeKey’s razor and blade business model uses a strategy that involves selling highly secure and tamperproof microchips (or “razor” products) at very competitive rates, to enable the inclusion and promotion of the higher margin cybersecurity products and services (or “blade” services) thus bundling a very attractive combination of core security components.

The unique and highly secured capabilities of WISeKey’s microchips, which are equipped with various hardware sensors and protection mechanisms making them resistant to hardware attacks have resulted in higher demand and increasing stream of recurring revenue for cybersecurity offerings. WISeKey’s microchips are designed to provide both hardware-based encryption and a secure PIN authentication, to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

As recently announced, practically every computer device, server, laptop, tablet and smartphone in the market was affected by hardware bugs (including Meltdown and Spectre) due to two major flaws in the design of the device’s Central Processing Unit (CPU), allowing hackers to steal data.

“Not only are WISeKey’s products immune to attacks by Meltdown and Spectre and similar hardware bugs,” explains Carlos Moreira, Chief Executive Officer and founder of WISeKey, “but our security solutions are designed precisely to make these kinds of attacks ineffective.  We believe that the phenomenon of the two side-channel attacks wouldn’t exist if our embedded security solutions were implemented from the start in the CPU system of these devices.”

The IoT industry has become a game changing new business opportunity for WISeKey.  An estimated 50 billion IoT devices are expected to be connected by 2020, while world’s population is estimated to grow to 6.8 billion; thus, there will be more than 7 IoT devices per person connected to the internet by 2020. Global spending on IoT/IoE technology-based services is now expected to reach $3 trillion by 2025 and WISeKey is well positioned to take advantage of many significant opportunities in this large market.

Recent agreements for WISeKey in this segment include partnerships with global organizations to secure IoT devices and the increasing amount of sensitive data exchanged between these devices.  The IoT chips produced by WISeKey allow companies to provide users with applications designed to offer increased control over the use of resources, improve efficiency, optimize processing of information, secure autonomous vehicles and connected cars, secure medical wearable devices and improve public safety. In the United States, WISeKey’s chips secure and authenticate over 50 million routers using unique Secure Certificate based IDs and encryption (SSH) keys.  This technology is also used in closed-circuit TV (CCTV) or DVR devices and satellite antenna equipment.

As a global leader in secure microcontrollers, WISeKey Semiconductors’ security chip solutions are backed by a long track record of successful integration and backed by over 500 patents and patent applications to ensure secure communications, encryption and authentication of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Bernard Vian, General Manager of WISeKey Semiconductor, added, “The connectivity between people objects and machines is offering everyday new opportunities for hackers to penetrate systems. Security shall be addressed globally, with a total overview of the issues. WISeKey is the 360° best practice partner for secure IoT, acting as a security supply chain manager, reducing both product development time and cost. IoT success can only happen if data can be trusted. We turn the burden of security into opportunities to create businesses out of data analytics.”

WISeKey offers a range of contact and contactless secure microcontrollers that share consistent secure 8-/16-bit RISC CPU performance, strong security mechanisms, and enhanced crypto engines to optimize performance and power consumption. The products also provide high-density, low-power EEPROM technologies. Designed to meet the most stringent security requirements, many of these products are EAL5+ Common Criteria security-certified.

WISeKey integrated Vertical Trusted Platform combines a range of microchips with software applications that cater to our customers’ specific business and security needs. The software solution is driven by proprietary technology, such as Root of Trust (“RoT”) and Public Key Infrastructure (“PKI”), that enables our clients to effectively manage their digital identity, information, and communications in a single integrated platform. RoT enables us to secure electronic information through our digital certificate technology. Our PKI services deploy digital certificates used for encryption, creating tamperproof electronic “fingerprints.” We enable our clients to adapt to an evolving device landscape without compromising their digital security.