Detecting Hardware Trojans In a RISC-V Core’s Post-Layout Phase


A new technical paper "Trojan-D2: Post-Layout Design and Detection of Stealthy Hardware Trojans - A RISC-V Case Study" was published by researchers at University of Bremen, DFKI GmbH, and the German Aerospace Center. Abstract: "With the exponential increase in the popularity of the RISC-V ecosystem, the security of this platform must be re-evaluated especially for mission-critical and IoT d... » read more

RSFQ Logic Based Logic Locking Technique For Immunizing Against SAT-Based Attacks


A new technical paper titled "C-SAR: SAT Attack Resistant Logic Locking for RSFQ Circuits" was published (preprint) by researchers at University of Southern California. Abstract: "Since the development of semiconductor technologies, exascale computing and its associated applications have required increasing degrees of efficiency. Semiconductor-transistor-based circuits (STbCs) have strugg... » read more

Hardware Trojan Detection Case Study Based on 4 Different ICs Manufactured in Progressively Smaller CMOS Process Technologies


A technical paper titled "Red Team vs. Blue Team: A Real-World Hardware Trojan Detection Case Study Across Four Modern CMOS Technology Generations" was published by researchers at Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), Ruhr University Bochum, and Bundeskriminalamt. "In this work, we aim to improve upon this state of the art by presenting a... » read more

Industry Adoption Of Line-Rate Network Security Using MACsec


Network security protocols are the primary means of securing data in motion — that is, data communicated between closely connected physical devices, or between devices, and even virtual machines connected using a complex infrastructure. This article will explore Media Access Control security (MACsec) and how it can be used to provide foundational level network security for a wide range of app... » read more

Capture Effective Hardware Security Requirements In 3 Steps


As hardware vulnerabilities continue to rise, it’s increasingly crucial for those developing semiconductors to reduce consumer and business risk by establishing comprehensive security programs. These should include a systematic process for developing security requirements, verifying them at scale throughout the design process, and producing final documentation for security sign-off before tap... » read more

ML-Based Framework for Automatically Generating Hardware Trojan Benchmarks


A new technical paper titled "Automatic Hardware Trojan Insertion using Machine Learning" was published by researchers at University of Florida and Stanford University. Abstract (partial): "In this paper, we present MIMIC, a novel AI-guided framework for automatic Trojan insertion, which can create a large population of valid Trojans for a given design by mimicking the properties of a small... » read more

Securing Heterogeneous Integration at the Chiplet, Interposer, and System-In-Package Levels (FICS-University of Florida)


A new research paper titled "ToSHI - Towards Secure Heterogeneous Integration: Security Risks, Threat Assessment, and Assurance" was published by researchers at the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) Research, University of Florida. Abstract "The semiconductor industry is entering a new age in which device scaling and cost reduction will no longer follow the decades-long pattern. Pa... » read more

Cybersecurity Is A Journey


Hardware Is the Foundation of Your Security Posture Due to the inability to ‘patch’ silicon, failure to identify and remediate hardware vulnerabilities early comes with catastrophic consequences. However, most of the focus and investments in cybersecurity have historically been on device software and its administrators, not on securing the underlying hardware. Hardware Vulnerabilitie... » read more

RETBLEED: New Spectre-BTI Attack (ETH Zurich)


New Spectre-BTI attack that "leaks arbitrary kernel memory." It's detailed in this research paper titled “RETBLEED: Arbitrary Speculative Code Execution with Return Instructions” from researchers at ETH Zürich. Mitigations are available. Abstract "Modern operating systems rely on software defenses against hardware attacks. These defenses are, however, as good as the assumptions they m... » read more

Implementing Memory Encryption To Protect Data In Use


In my blog “The Methods of Memory Encryption to Protect Data in Use,” I discussed how the XTS/XEX mode of encryption was the appropriate choice for protecting data stored in and accessed from memory, also known as, protecting data in use. As a quick recap, XTS/XEX uses two keys, one key for block encryption, and another key to process a “tweak.” The tweak ensures every block of memory i... » read more

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