Unique locks on microchips could reduce hardware piracy

[David G. Koontz]

http://www.physorg.com/news123951684.html


The technique is called EPIC, short for Ending Piracy of Integrated
Circuits. It relies on established cryptography methods and introduces
subtle changes into the chip design process. But it does not affect the
chips' performance or power consumption.

There's also the paper:

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~imarkov/pubs/conf/date08-epic.pdf

Random number generators, public keys, remote attestation, oh my!

There appears to be an assumption that a potential 'pirate' isn't inside the
cryptographic boundary  which includes the chip design and tools,
fabrication process, and programming/testing facility.  I'm not sure the
vulnerability assessment includes all the threat models for gray market ICs.
 There seems to be a bit of hand waving involved.  It may narrow the avenues
available to the potential pirate.  From the article:

 "However, even in U.S. facilities, working chips are sometimes reported
defective by individual employees and later sold in gray markets,"
Koushanfar said."

By itself it doesn't stop silicon from being diverted after unlocking, for
instance.  I'd imagine the things you would do to increase threat coverage
might be sufficient in and of themselves to preclude the need for this lock
mechanism.

An attack on the random number generator appears a likely vector.


















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