Security News > 2020 > December > Engineers design transistor that disguises key computer chip hardware from hackers

A hacker can reproduce a circuit on a chip by discovering what key transistors are doing in a circuit - but not if the transistor "Type" is undetectable.

How chip manufacturers choose to make this transistor design compatible with their processes would determine the availability of this level of security.

"These two transistor types are key since they do different things in a circuit. They are at the heart of everything that happens on all our chips," said Joerg Appenzeller, Purdue's Barry M. and Patricia L. Epstein Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

While camouflaging is already a security measure that chip manufacturers use, it is typically done at the circuit level and doesn't attempt to obscure the functionality of individual transistors - leaving the chip potentially vulnerable to reverse engineering hacking techniques with the right tools.

"Our approach would make N and P type transistors look the same on a fundamental level. You can't really distinguish them without knowing the key," said Peng Wu, a Purdue Ph.D. student of electrical and computer engineering who built and tested a prototype chip with black phosphorus-based transistors in the Birck Nanotechnology Center of Purdue's Discovery Park.

News URL

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HelpNetSecurity/~3/4HOSgbgT5l4/