The Growing Imperative Of Hardware Security Assurance In IP And SoC Design


In an era where technology permeates every aspect of our lives, the semiconductor industry serves as the backbone of innovation. From IoT devices to data centers, every piece of technology relies on integrated circuits (ICs) such as intellectual property (IP) cores and system on chips (SoCs). As these technologies become increasingly pervasive, the importance of hardware security assurance in t... » read more

Overview Of Security Verification Methodologies for SoC Designs Pre-Silicon (U. of Florida)


A technical paper titled "A Survey on SoC Security Verification Methods at the Pre-silicon Stage" was recently published by researchers at University of Florida. Abstract "This paper presents a survey of the state-of-the-art pre-silicon security verification techniques for System-on-Chip (SoC) designs, focusing on ensuring that designs, implemented in hardware description languages (HDLs) a... » read more

Formal Verification of Security Properties On RTL Designs


A technical paper titled “RTL Verification for Secure Speculation Using Contract Shadow Logic” was published by researchers at Princeton University, MIT CSAIL, and EPFL. Abstract: "Modern out-of-order processors face speculative execution attacks. Despite various proposed software and hardware mitigations to prevent such attacks, new attacks keep arising from unknown vulnerabilities. Thus... » read more

Verifying Hardware Security With RTL Simulation


When consumers think about security for their electronic gadgets, financial applications probably spring first to mind. Identity theft and unauthorized access to bank and investment accounts are a constant threat. But there’s more to worry about every day. Stories of webcams and smart speakers being hacked are all over the web. Users rightfully demand that device manufacturers provide a high ... » read more

Creating Comprehensive And Verifiable Hardware Security Requirements


Developing effective hardware security requirements is one of the trickiest aspects of building trustworthy electronic products. Even highly skilled and experienced teams don’t always get it right. Why? First, it’s very difficult to anticipate every security risk – much less cover every possible scenario with a specific security requirement. Instead, hardware security requirements o... » read more

Formal Verification Methodology For Detecting Security-Critical Bugs in HW & in the HW/Firmware Interface of SoCs (Award Winner)


A new technical paper titled "A Formal Approach to Confidentiality Verification in SoCs at the Register Transfer Level" was this year's first place winner of Intel's Hardware Security Academic Award program.   The approach utilizes UPEC (Unique Program Execution Checking) to identify functional design bugs causing confidentiality violations, covering both the processor and its peripherals. ... » read more

Ensuring Security By Design Is Actually Secure


Today’s connected systems touch nearly every part of consumers’ lives, from smart thermostats in our homes to self-driving cars on our roads. The adoption of these new devices has led to an explosion of new semiconductors and use models. But these novel conveniences also come with new risks. With vulnerabilities on the rise and the potential for remote attacks growing, product companies mus... » read more

Fuzz, Penetration, and AI Testing for SoC Security Verification: Challenges and Solutions


Abstract "The ever-increasing usage and application of system-on-chips (SoCs) has resulted in the tremendous modernization of these architectures. For a modern SoC design, with the inclusion of numerous complex and heterogeneous intellectual properties (IPs),and its privacy-preserving declaration, there exists a wide variety of highly sensitive assets. These assets must be protected from any u... » read more

Security Verification For Processor-Based SoCs


By Ruud Derwig and Nicole Fern Security in modern systems is of utmost importance. Device manufacturers are including multiple security features and attack protections into both the hardware and software design. End-product system security, however, cannot be guaranteed by using a secure processor alone. The final product security results not only from using proven, secure hardware component... » read more

Verifying Security In Processor-based SoCs


By Ruud Derwig and Nicole Fern Security in modern systems is of utmost importance. Device manufacturers are including multiple security features and attack protections into both the hardware and software design. For example, the Synopsys DesignWare ARC Processor IP includes many security functions in its SecureShield feature set. End-product system security, however, cannot be guaranteed by ... » read more

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