18 May 2010
Fingerprint set to make counterfeiting ‘impossible’
Responding to increasingly sophisticated attacks on seemingly secure systems, a group of companies has launched the Hardware Intrinsic Security Initiative (HIS). According to the partners, security and authenticity is fundamental to electronics companies, with counterfeiting reducing market size and damaging brand reputations. It believes the problem is reducing average selling prices by 10%.
Its solution is a new hardware based security approach which takes advantage of the inherent qualities of individual chips. Daniel Schobben, ceo of Intrinisic-ID, is managing sponsor of the HIS Initiative. "Organisations around the world are now cracking systems routinely. It is possible to protect against this by adding layers to a chip, but counterfeiters can go through a chip layer by layer to reveal its secrets. We are looking to build systems that can't be copied."
The HIS approach works by identifying a footprint generated when a 2k sram block boots. Schobben noted the logical preference states of each memory cell in the block form a random identifier. This is then passed through an error correction block to generate the fingerprint. In this way, a secret key is generated only when needed. With no key stored, there is no way that counterfeiters can copy the system. Importantly, said Schobben, TSMC is one of the launch sponsors. A test chip has already been developed using TSMC's 90nm process and a 65nm device is planned.
One of the first markets to be addressed will be conditional access in set top boxes (stb), where fraud rates are said to be running in excess of 30% in Europe. In this, a conditional access card will be paired with a particular stb. Beyond that, the technique may have application in pharmaceuticals and in consumer goods.
Joining Intrinisic-ID and TSMC as launch partners are Cisco, imec, Irdeto, NXP, SiVenture and Virage Logic.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Supporting Information
Websites
http://www.hisinitiative.org
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