Only minor changes to the application program are required in order to enable encryption. The configuration consists of assigning the encryption method and a password. The rest of the application is not affected. A PC side application is available for the encryption and decryption of files to prepare data for the embedded application or to read out encrypted information collected by the embedded application. Encryption/Decryption can be done at high speed: On a 100MHz Cortex-M target, a speed of approximately 500KByte/sec is achieved. Higher speeds can be achieved with hardware encryption or a faster processor.

The developer has the option to choose between different encryption algorithms. DES, 3DES and AES are available from SEGGER. The entire emFile code has been developed by SEGGER from scratch, no part of it falls under GPL licensing.

“emFile encryption adds a very easy way for customers to provide security for the data used in their applications”, says Dirk Akemann, Marketing Manager of SEGGER.