STDA060 October   2026 MSPM0G3519 , MSPM0G3519-Q1 , MSPM33C321A , MSPM33C321A-Q1

 

  1.   1
  2.   Abstract
  3.   Trademarks
  4. 1 Introduction
  5. 2 Security Goals in Embedded Systems
  6. 3 Cryptographic Primitives
  7. 4 The Potential Effects of CRQCs
  8. 5 New Algorithms and Standards for the Future
  9. 6 CNSA Compliance
  10. 7 Symmetric Encryption and Hash Functions
  11. 8 PQC Digital Signatures: ML-DSA
  12. 9 Is Hardware Acceleration Necessary?
  13. 10Is Pre-Hash Necessary?
  14. 11Other NIST-Selected PQC Digital Signature Schemes
  15. 12Stateful Digital Signature Schemes
  16. 13What About Key Agreement?
  17. 14Future-Proofing Embedded Systems
  18. 15References

14 Future-Proofing Embedded Systems

Designers need to consider the possibility that an attacker can, in the future, possess a quantum computer with enough capability to attack classical cryptographic primitives used to provide basic security goals, including secure boot, attestation and secure communication. Through the NIST and NSA, the United States has a framework for selecting cryptographic primitives believed to be secure even against an attacker with such capabilities.

Challenges in embedded systems include small nonvolatile and working memory, slower communication interfaces, and a limited ability to store the state. TI provides support for post-quantum secure cryptographic primitives on ultra-low-power and low-cost microcontrollers that enable CNSA 2.0 compliance and balance performance and memory, including:

  • Digital signatures: full support for ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65 and ML-DSA-87 in pre-hash and pure forms.
  • Key encapsulation: full support for ML-KEM-512, ML-KEM-768, and ML-KEM-1024.
  • Symmetric encryption: support for AES-256 and associated modes of operation, including counter with cipher block chaining-message authentication code and Galois counter mode.
  • Secure hash functions: full support for SHA-2 and the SHA-3 and SHAKE suites.
MSP-CRYPTO-LIB Features Figure 14-1 MSP-CRYPTO-LIB Features

Using the TI MSP Crypto Library on MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ and MSPM33 Arm Cortex-M33-based microcontrollers enables CNSA 2.0-compliant ML-DSA-87 digital signature verification for secure boot use cases in less than 260ms (Cortex-M0+) or 70ms (Cortex-M33), providing fast boot times even in resource- and cost-constrained environments, while preparing for a future where quantum computing is a reality.