Our homes are more than just buildings – they’re the places where we eat, sleep, and entertain. Little surprise then that we invest a lot of time and money making them nice places to be. That makes home security increasingly essential for maintaining both safety and peace of mind.
Tech has helped. Smart security systems can now combine cameras, IR sensors, and smart doorbells to detect suspicious activity and warn homeowners that something is awry. However, the best defense is still to prevent unauthorized access happening in the first instance.
Smart locks are forming the front line for home security. Unlike regular locks, they eliminate the need for physical keys, allowing doors to lock and unlock through wireless connectivity. That connectivity brings innovation. For example, eufy’s E30 Smart Lock employs the Matter-over-Thread connectivity of Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC, enabling integration with multiple smart home ecosystems.
The E30 can be remotely locked and unlocked via the relevant smartphone app and/or smart home solution – for example, a smart speaker or voice assistant device. Users can also monitor and control the lock’s status when away from home while authorizing temporary unlock passwords for trusted visitors. Additionally, the E30 provides additional unlocking methods, including fingerprint recognition, password entry, and a traditional key.
However, until now, mainstream adoption of smart lock tech has faced a challenge. Mass uptake has stalled due to a fragmented market. Consumers have found it difficult to configure and commission products and are frustrated at being locked into specific suppliers or proprietary technology.
But now, Matter—a unifying protocol for smart home technology from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA)—enables devices from different brands and technologies to work seamlessly together. Matter is focused on addressing security concerns using strong encryption and authentication to ensure that data is only shared between trusted Matter devices[1]. By ensuring all connected devices meet these requirements, Matter helps eliminate potential points of weakness, creating a more secure home system.
Smart locks have previously shown vulnerability to certain types of malicious attack. One, the man-in-the-middle attack, has previously seen an intruder intercept the smart lock’s credentials while the user was operating the lock. Later, the intruder could use those credentials to gain entry.
Now, initiatives such as PSA Certified—implemented by a group of key IoT product suppliers—help ensure wireless solutions meet the highest security standards. The PSA Certified standard ensures smart locks powered by chips such as Nordic’s nRF5340—which is PSA Level 2 certified—are almost impossible to attack by methods such as man-in-the-middle.
As well as specifying PSA certified connectivity solutions for their products, leading smart lock makers provide further levels of security to ensure wireless security by design. Key security features of smart locks powered by Nordic Semiconductor SoCs provide dedicated security hardware such as Arm TrustZone and hardware crypto acceleration, while Nordic’s software safeguards system integrity and data protection, enabling secure boot processes, secure over-the-air updates, and data privacy.
For example, a primary tenant of strong encryption is sophisticated random number generation. This is used to create unpredictable security keys, making it harder for hackers to breach systems. However, generating genuinely random numbers is surprisingly complex. Any bias in the numbers produced can weaken encryption. Pseudo-Random Number Generators (PRNGs), which rely on pre-set algorithms, are particularly vulnerable because of this. Nordic’s devices, however, use True Random Number Generation (TRNG), ensuring higher levels of security and meeting stringent industry standards.
These collective layers of security protect not only the device and its data but the entire ecosystem, ensuring smart lock makers can build trust into their products in every aspect, from local operations to Cloud interactions.
The eufy E30 smart lock is one example of this advanced security in practice, employing the nRF52840 SoC’s Arm CryptoCell-310 cryptographic accelerator and Arm TrustZone, ensuring trusted execution and secure data handling. Another example is Anona Security Technology’s Anona Hola smart lock. Powered by Nordic’s nRF5340 SoC and nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 Companion IC, it provides secure Matter-over-Wi-Fi connectivity with an Arm CryptoCell-312 for hardware-accelerated cryptography. Arm TrustZone further enhances security by providing system-wide hardware isolation, separating secure and non-secure Flash, RAM, peripherals, and GPIOs.
As smart locks and all manner of connected devices become more prevalent in our daily lives, robust security is more important than ever. Nordic Semiconductor’s commitment to PSA-certified security, advanced encryption, and secure connectivity ensures manufacturers can build reliable and resilient IoT solutions, helping to protect users from evolving digital threats.