Axiado, the security processor provider, has launched two new AI-powered hardware security platform solutions designed to help detect ransomware and other cyberattacks. Dubbed AX3000 and AX2000, these trusted compute units (TCUs) integrate all security functions within a single system-on-chip (SoC) module, allowing for a better cost-benefit ratio by removing the need to implement different hardware components for different use cases. The TCUs are coprocessors for server security that provide zero trust architecture, hardware root of trust, and attack mitigation strategies for servers, base stations and network appliances through a combination of Axiado’s in-house technologies.
The platform, housed in a 23 x 23 ball grid array (BGA) SoC, also incorporates a hardware security manager that is equipped with anti-tamper and anti-counterfeit mechanisms. The different TCU variants are targeted at different use cases, with the AX3000 boasting a higher number of interface pins, high-speed interfaces like 10GbE ports and AI, while the AX2000 is limited at 1GbE ports and has no AI function.
According to Michela Menting, senior research director at ABI Research, “single-chip implementations provide a better cost-benefit ratio than having to implement different hardware components for different use cases—storage vs crypto acceleration vs ransomware identification.”
The company is providing samples of the AX3000 and AX2000 TCUs to early-access partners in servers, wireless base stations, wired security appliances, centralized and distributed infrastructure, and smart edge gateways. “Axiado’s hardware-anchored, AI-driven TCU is a single-chip smart control and management solution for these servers,” said Gopi Sirineni, CEO and President of Axiado. “The addition of AI acceleration could prove a useful tool for monitoring system health and security,” comments Joe Byrne, director of processor analysis at TechInsights.
Axiado claims its latest TCU represents a new category of forensic-enabled cybersecurity processors, designed to enhance existing zero trust models. The TCUs operate an AI functionality that is explicitly designed for security, offering advanced protection against side-channel, network, and peripheral-based attacks during normal server operations. Secure AITM is used to identify any deviations from the expected behavior on these attack surfaces, keeping a record of such anomalies for further analysis. If any anomalies are detected, the TCU initiates mitigation strategies to prevent malware intrusion, spread, and system breakdown.
The rise in remote and cloud-based platforms, and the increasing migration of mission-critical applications and highly confidential data, have resulted in a growing body of regulation globally that is ensuring service providers ensure data security protection is enshrined by law. Secure hardware products for the data center are important, said ABI’s Menting, “Especially as there is continued and strong migration to remote and cloud-based platforms, including for mission-critical applications and highly confidential data. […] the ability to ensure security, from a service provider perspective, is key.”