4.1.1.1 Boot Code/Root of Trust Code

Security Objectives:

• Immutability
• Confidentiality
• Integrity

The root of trust is the foundation of secure boot. The code/data associated with the root of trust are inherently trusted and, thus, critical to protect. The root of trust is responsible for authenticating and verifying the integrity of the next code to run, often the first mutable code. The dsPIC33A family devices provide features that allow system designers to create a root of trust section that meet their system requirements.

Roots of trust in a system may have several different security objectives. The next sections will cover each of the following security objectives, discuss how/when they would apply and how to realize these objectives with the hardware features of the dsPIC33A product families.