ARM Splashes Cash On Israeli IoT Security Firm

British chip designer ARM is buying an Israeli Internet of Things (IoT) security firm to boost the safety of its system-on-chip components.

Sansa Security, which makes hardware and software security for Internet of Things devices, currently provides security in 150 million products a year with the technology deployed across a range of smart connected devices and enterprise systems.

Founded in 2000 and calling itself a ‘comprehensive’ IoT security company, Sansa’s current portfolio of customers include the likes of LG, Mediatek, Google and Microsoft.

Multi-layered

“Any connected device could be a target for a malicious attack so we must embed security at every potential attack point,” said Mike Muller, CTO, ARM.

“Protection against hackers works best when it is multi-layered, so we are extending our security technology capability into hardware subsystems and trusted software. This means our partners will be able to license a comprehensive security suite from a single source.”

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed by ARM.

This month saw ARM announce better than expected financial results as the company enjoyed a record number of new licensing deals. The chipmaker recorded a 22 percent year on year rise in sterling revenues for the second quarter of 2015.

This was despite warning earlier in the year that the outlook for the mobile processor market as a whole was set to decrease.

Overall, 3.4 billion ARM-based chips were shipped in the quarter, a 26 percent year-on-year increase, which led to a 31 percent rise in processor royalty revenues, and licensing revenue also increased three percent.