Our Investment in Autonomous Security Software for IoT Devices

By Brent MacDonald – Principal at Rising Tide

On track to become the leading supplier of chip-level IoT security software and cloud data integrity solutions

As the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more mainstream, every device—sensors, actuators, embedded microcontrollers, or smart appliances—needs to be protected from hacking, data breaches, and other security vulnerabilities. In particular, security is always a concern when deploying cloud services because it necessitates storing and using secret keys in the microcontroller—which, if unprotected, can expose them.

In a March 2021 Microsoft report, 83% of 1,000 businesses surveyed experienced at least one firmware attack in the past two years. By 2022, Gartner estimates that 70% of organizations without a firmware upgrade plan will suffer a breach due to firmware vulnerability. And the National Vulnerability Database maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows more than a fivefold hike in firmware attacks in the last four years. And so Verified Market Research forecasts the global IoT security market will grow from $12.5 billion in 2020 to $36.6 billion by 2025.

Founded in 2017, NXM Labs is the leader in Autonomous Security technology that safeguards IoT devices, protects personal privacy, and ensures data versatility and integrity at the edge. NXM Labs’ partners include global leaders in semiconductors, aerospace, communications, embedded OS, insurance, and transportation. The Company’s foundational technology is based on self-sovereign machine identity, dubbed “Concrete Identity”, which enables secure Machine-to-Machine (M2M) interactions in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network. Each device is fully autonomous and acts as an intelligence node in a mesh network environment. Access to any one of these devices requires the consensus of many of the devices on the network, resulting in unprecedented resilience that renders device networks invulnerable to hacking.

NXM Autonomous Security is about simplifying and automating security to enable machines to defend themselves. It frees OEMs to focus their resources on building new products secure in the knowledge that their brand reputation and customers’ privacy are protected. More specifically, NXM leverages the advanced security features of Arm-based chips to deliver scalable solutions that automate device onboarding and data versatility at the chip level, significantly reducing the cost of deploying AI solutions and unlocking new recurring revenue opportunities. NXM automates security processes to eliminate human error, a leading cause of cybersecurity breaches

Why We Are Excited:

The team at NXM Labs has taken the right approach to autonomous security. NXM’s IoT security platform eliminates the complexity and reduces the cost of implementing best-in-class security for IoT devices and their companion mobile and web apps. NXM provides complete end-to-end, product lifecycle security protection for IoT products and is the industry’s first cybersecurity platform to combine “Zero Touch and Zero Trust” security.  Zero Touch means security is automatically enforced without passwords.  Zero Trust means no one is trusted and every transaction must be verified. NXM security is also unique in its ability to defend devices against all forms of cyber-attacks, including ransomware and fleetwide hacks.

In principle, if somebody was able to hack, say, all of the autonomous Teslas, they could, say—I mean just as a prank—they could say like ‘send them all to Rhode Island’ from across the United States. And that would be like, well OK, that would be the end of Tesla.”

Elon Mush, 2/2018