System and method for triggering and detecting hardware trojans
AssigneeNXP B.V.
InventorJan-Peter Schat
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for managing operation of a circuit includes activating a trigger engine, receiving signals from a target circuit, and detecting a hardware trojan based on the signals. The trigger engine may generate a stimulus to activate the hardware trojan, and the target circuit may generate the received signals when the stimulus is generated. The trigger engine may be a scan chain which performs a circular scan by shifting bit values through a series of flip-flops including a feedback path. The target circuit may be various types of circuits, including but not limited to a high-speed input/output interface. The hardware trojan may be detected based on bit-error rate information corresponding to the signals output from the target circuit.
Claims16
A detector, comprising:
- a memory configured to store instructions;
- and
- control logic configured to execute the instructions to activate a trigger engine that includes a scan chain of flip-flops and detect a hardware trojan based on output signals of a target circuit, wherein the scan chain of the trigger engine is configured to generate a stimulus that includes a wireless emission of electromagnetic energy carrying a signature for triggering activation of the hardware trojan, the wireless emission excluding the output signals of the target circuit and generated by shifting bit values through the scan chain of flip flops arranged in a circular scan pattern to activate the hardware trojan, and wherein the output signals of the target circuit are generated when the stimulus is applied.
A method for managing operation of a circuit, comprising:
- activating a trigger engine that includes a scan chain of flip-flops;
- receiving signals from a target circuit;
- and
- detecting a hardware trojan based on the signals,
- wherein the scan chain of the trigger engine generates a stimulus that includes a wireless emission of electromagnetic energy carrying a signature for triggering activation of the hardware trojan, the wireless emission excluding the received signals from the target circuit and generated by shifting bit values through the scan chain of flip flops arranged in a circular scan pattern to activate the hardware trojan, and wherein the target circuit generates the received signals when the stimulus is generated.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for causing a processor to perform operations including:
- activating a trigger engine that includes a scan chain of flip-flops to generate a stimulus that includes a wireless emission of electromagnetic energy carrying a signature for triggering activation of a hardware trojan, the wireless emission generated by shifting bit values through the scan chain of flip flops arranged in a circular scan pattern;
- receiving signals from a target circuit when the stimulus is applied;
- and
- detecting the hardware trojan based on the signals from the target circuit,
- wherein the wireless emission corresponding to the stimulus excludes the received signals from the target circuit and is to activate the hardware trojan and the target circuit is to generate the received signals when the stimulus is generated, the target circuit including a high-speed input/output (HSIO) interface, and the hardware trojan is detected based on bit-error rate information corresponding to the signals from the target circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.