Part of a leading team of companies to address the UK’s £27bn cyber resilience problem
EnSilica is pleased to announce its participation in the newly formed CHERI Adoption Collective (the “Collective”), launched by PA Consulting in collaboration with the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (“DSIT”).
CHERI is a new type of microchip technology which improves cyber security at the hardware level. Memory safety flaws account for 70 per cent of software security defaults worldwide and underpin many severe cyber incidents. To address this, the Collective is bringing together leading organisations from the energy, defence, telecoms, and semiconductor sectors to create a more resilient, lower cost, and secure-by‑design foundation for both legacy and next‑generation systems with minimal software change.
Participants include major UK infrastructure operators such as BT, National Grid and SSE, alongside industrial and defence partners EA Technology, Ultra, Hildebrand, and Goldilock. EnSilica is one of the three named semiconductor supply chain partners.
EnSilica’s participation builds on its EnSura™ secure microcontroller platform, a CHERI-enabled RISC-V architecture with Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) support designed to deliver hardware-enforced security and functional safety for applications in critical infrastructure, industrial, automotive and communications markets.
Ian Lankshear, Chief Executive Officer of EnSilica, commented:
“We are delighted to be selected to join the Collective alongside leading UK infrastructure operators and technology partners. Hardware-enforced memory safety represents a fundamental step change in cyber security, and CHERI is set to play a central role in protecting next-generation critical systems. EnSilica is well placed to benefit from the commercial opportunities that are likely to emerge from being a core member of the Collective team.”
Liz Lloyd, Baroness Lloyd of Effra, Minister for Digital Economy, commenting on the creation of CHERI:
“Cyber-attacks aren’t abstract threats – they delay NHS appointments, disrupt essential services, and put people’s most sensitive data at risk. Memory safety bugs are one of the most common routes hackers use to break into systems, so it’s critical that we work together right across the economy to tackle them. CHERI is fundamental to reducing these risks, and the UK has been a leader in this important work, from the very start. The CHERI Adoption Collective will keep us at the forefront as those efforts continue – building a safer and more resilient economy for everyone.”
