TC: Small: THWART: Trojan Hardware in Wireless ICs - Analysis and Remedies for Trust

University Of Texas At Dallas, Richardson TX

Investigators

Abstract

Towards enhancing trustworthiness of wireless integrated circuits, this project investigates the problem of hardware Trojans in the analog/RF domain. Hardware Trojans are maliciously-intended modifications to fabricated integrated circuits, making them capable of additional functionality which is unknown to the designer and user, but which can be exploited by the perpetrator after chip deployment to sabotage or incapacitate it, or to steal sensitive information. The motivation for this research is two-fold: First, partly because of design outsourcing and migration of fabrication to low-cost areas across the globe, and partly because of increased reliance on external intellectual property and design automation software, the integrated circuit supply chain is now considered far more vulnerable to such malicious modifications than ever before. Second, wireless integrated circuits constitute an indispensable part of modern electronic systems and their ability to communicate data (possibly encrypted) over public channels makes them a prime attack candidate. To address this problem, this project focuses on (i) delineating the threat and potential impact of hardware Trojans in wireless cryptographic ICs, (ii) elucidating the shortcomings of existing test methods in exposing them, (iii) developing preventive countermeasures for obfuscating the chip design and complicating the development of hardware Trojans, and (iv) devising efficient hardware Trojan detection methods based on statistical analysis and machine learning. The anticipated impact of this research lies in the attainment of a better understanding of the hardware Trojan threat and in the development of appropriate remedies, thus enabling secure deployment of wireless integrated circuits and fostering technology trustworthiness.