SparkFun Cryptographic Co-Processor Breakout - ATECC508A (Qwiic)

The SparkFun ATECC508A Cryptographic Co-processor Breakout allows you to easily add strong authentication security to your IoT node, edge device, or embedded system. It includes two Qwiic ports for plug and play functionality. Utilizing our handy Qwiic system, no soldering is required to connect it to the rest of your system. However, we still have broken out 0.1"-spaced pins in case you prefer to use a breadboard. The ATECC508A chip is capable of many cryptographic processes, including, but not limited to:

• Creating and securely storing unique asymmetric key pairs based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (FIPS186-3).
• Creating and verifying 64-byte digital signatures (from 32-bytes of message data).
• Creating a shared secret key on a public channel via Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Algorithm.
• A standard hash-based challenge-response protocol using a SHA-256 algorithm.
• Internal high quality FIPS random number generator.

Embedded in the chip is a 10Kb EEPROM array that can be used for storing keys, certificates, data, consumption logging, and security configurations. Access to the sections of memory can then be restricted and the configuration locked to prevent changes.

Each ATECC508A ships with a guaranteed unique 72-bit serial number and includes several security features to prevent physical attacks on the device itself, or logical attacks on the data transmitted between the device.

Our hookup guide and Arduino Library (which includes six examples) will get you familiar with the basics of elliptic curve cryptography and signing/verifying data in no time!

Note: Please read through the hookup guide in its entirety before using this board. The chip can be only configured before it is PERMANENTLY locked. It is advisable that users purchase multiple boards in order to use other configurations and explore the advanced functions of the ATECC508A.

Additionally, this board is NOT capable of encrypting and decrypting data. It can however, perform quite a few cryptographic authentication processes such as secure private key creation, secure key storage, and digital signature creation and verification.

It is recommended that an Artemis microcontroller board is used with this product due to the buffer size required on the I2C bus.

The SparkFun Qwiic Connect System is an ecosystem of I2C sensors, actuators, shields and cables that make prototyping faster and less prone to error. All Qwiic-enabled boards use a common 1mm pitch, 4-pin JST connector. This reduces the amount of required PCB space, and polarized connections mean you can’t hook it up wrong.