Scurid support for Sony Spresense Microcontroller

Introduction to MicroScurid-C for Sony Spresense

Introduction

We are delighted to announce that Scurid’s MicroScurid-C is now available for the Sony Spresense IoT microcontroller board. This integration allows developers to automate the creation and management of W3C's new upcoming standard for Digital Identity, using Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), on the Sony Spresense board using MicroScurid-C. This blog provides a high level introduction to how Scurid helps enable the Sony Spresense board with fully automated digital identity using MicroScurid-C and then enable end users to validate and verify their mission-critical data in the field and in the cloud. This alleviates your need for managing complex traditional certificate-based identities for the devices and the data. Scurid is an ultra simple and cost effective way to protect your equipment out of the box, secure the identities of every device, and make your data trustable from end to end.

About the Sony Spresense Board

The Sony Spresense platform combines a multicore ARM Cortex-M4F–based MCU with the lightweight NuttX RTOS. It supports advanced features like multi-channel audio, GNSS, and low-power operation. This makes it suitable for applications that require both edge computing and reliable connectivity in resource-constrained environments.

Read more about the Sony Spresense board here.

About Microscurid-C

MicroScurid-C is the C SDK library that brings the core features of Scurid’s flagship Edge Agent to Microcontrollers. It allows you to generate, register and use device identities seamlessly, leveraging very lightweight and built in support for Nanopb over MQTT.

Read more about Microscurid-C here

Key Security Highlights from Scurid

1. Detect Data Tampering Simple yet powerful feature to detect data tampering on the device and on the server.
2. Insider Threat Employees do not have direct access to the device private keys, reducing the risk of identity leaks.
3. Prevent Identity Leak Microscurid-C generates globally unique, W3C-compliant distributed identities via a single C function call.
4. Fixed Credentials Become Obsolete A new identity can be generated directly on the device within seconds, and the process is easy to automate.
5. Identity Tracking and Auditing Scurid tracks every identity generated under the server’s “parent identity,” enabling comprehensive auditing.
6. Protect Against Brute Force Attacks Uses ECDSA-based keys by default—an industry best practice for strong security on both device and server.
7. No Social Engineering Attack All identities are generated and stored on the device automatically, eliminating any human error or manipulation in the credential process.

The Sony Spresense board, when armed with MicroScurid-C and the Scurid platform, delivers a seamless way to establish secure, W3C-compliant identities for embedded IoT devices. Developers gain a clear, step-by-step process for integrating DIDs into their firmware, ensuring data is trustworthy and resilient against common attack vectors. Product managers benefit from a scalable, future-proof identity solution that lowers the operational costs and complexities traditionally associated with certificates and certificate management. Meanwhile, businesses can accelerate time-to-market, enhance brand trust, and reduce the risk of breaches or data manipulation—key factors for companies to maintain a competitive edge in rapidly evolving IoT sectors.

Before you begin, make sure you have:

1. A functional Sony Spresense board
2. The Spresense SDK installed on your system

Step 1: Upload the NuttX Binary

1. Connect the Spresense board via USB.
2. Open a terminal and navigate to your Spresense SDK directory.
3. Flash the firmware with example: bash tools/flash.sh -c /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200 nuttx.spk a. Replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with the correct port. b. Adjust the baud rate if necessary. c. Ensure the nuttx.spk file (compiled with Microscurid-C) is in the correct path.

Step 2: Set Up the Scurid App

1. Request and download the Scurid App from Scurid (if not already done).
2. Connect the App to your hosted server, for example sonysemi.scurid.com.
3. Refer to Scurid documentation for more in-depth guidance on server configuration and additional features.

Step 3: Create a New DID

1. Open a serial console, such as: bash screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 Note: Adjust the port and baud rate as needed.
2. Register a DID

         lte_mqtt /registration/spresense --host sonysemi.scurid.com --agent-name "<agent_name>" --register "Okay"

• Replace <agent_name> with a name that does not contain spaces.
• Check your Scurid App to confirm the device’s DID is registered successfully.

Step 4: Verify Messages with the Created DID

1. Open or reuse the same serial console:

        minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200

2. Run verification

       lte_mqtt /verification/spresense --host sonysemi.scurid.com --agent-name "<agent_name>"

• Use the same <agent_name> from the DID creation step.
• View the verification logs in the Scurid App to confirm the signed data’s authenticity.

Conclusion

We know you would prefer to build secure, reliable, tamper-evident, and easily auditable capability into your IoT deployments if you could just add it in a quick, simple, low-cost way. Now you can with Scurid. By leveraging MicroScurid-C on Sony Spresense, you can streamline device onboarding, identity provisioning, and continuous verification in a single unified workflow—ensuring your products and services remain both innovative and secure. You get highly secured identity of your devices plus truly trustable data right away.

If you’re looking to build reliable, tamper-evident, and easily auditable IoT deployments, now is the time to adopt Scurid. By leveraging MicroScurid-C on Sony Spresense, you can streamline device onboarding, identity provisioning, and continuous verification in a single unified workflow—ensuring your products and services remain both innovative and secure.