Sectigo (formerly Comodo CA), the world’s largest commercial Certificate Authority (CA) and a provider of purpose-built and automated PKI management solutions, today announced a secure edge computing technology pact with NetObjex, an Intelligent Automation Platform for tracking, tracing, and monitoring digital assets using AI, Blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT). The collaboration provides enterprises and manufacturers with a secured, trusted computing infrastructure that extends from IoT edge devices to the cloud and blockchain.

“By collaborating with Sectigo, we can extend our comprehensive platform and offer enhanced security to our enterprise customers,” said Raghu Bala, CEO, NetObjex. “The growth of edge devices has increased the risk of devastating data breaches. Offering Sectigo’s embedded device hardening technologies and purpose-built third-party certificate issuance and management allows enterprises to protect their important data.”

As IoT adoption grows, the trend is to put more intelligence on the edge through smarter, more capable devices, extending and expanding the traditional enterprise IT infrastructure beyond a data center or cloud environment. The addition of elements like trucks, containers, kiosks, warehouses, and more creates an ecosystem of edge devices that not only collect and disseminate data, but also now perform highly complex tasks like AI at the outer reaches of the network. 

With the proliferation of more edge devices, the risk of a data breach only multiplies for enterprises. Last year, there were 1,244 data breaches, exposing 446.5 million records. Not only does this lead to significant obstacles, but breaches also come at a high price. Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of a data breach to exceed $3.5 million.

This broader array of environments, coupled with the prevalence of data breaches, make it critical for enterprises to secure their computing infrastructure. The Sectigo and NetObjex partnership brings to market products and solutions that comprehensively address this problem, reducing the risk of security compromises to data and firmware logic. This enhanced security fulfills a growing need in the market as enterprises increase investments in IoT, AI, and blockchain, which all thrive on clean, pristine data.

“With the growth of IoT and the rising cost of data breaches, enterprises need a secure computing infrastructure more than ever,” said Damon Kachur, Vice President, IoT Solutions, Sectigo. “This partnership combines the strengths of Sectigo and NetObjex to deliver a truly robust security infrastructure that addresses an acute need for enterprises.”

Through collaboration, both companies will be able to deliver enhanced security in all products and solutions. The combined solution includes the following security features:

• Enterprise-grade PKI solution for strong authentication
• Secure boot for NetObjex’s edge devices
• Secure firmware updates utilizing signing firmware
• Secure communication using mutual authentication

“By teaming with NetObjex, Sectigo is securing devices’ firmware, data and communication, protecting against a variety of botnet attacks like Silex and Mirai, and ensuring the secure bi-directional transmission of data. We are protecting against data loss and device takeover attacks, enabling OEMs to achieve compliance with regulatory frameworks, including NIST IoT Cybersecurity requirements, GDPR, IEC 62443, and the FDA Cybersecurity guidance for medical devices,” added Kachur.