Hardware Security Evaluation of MAX 10 FPGA

With the ubiquity of IoT devices there is a growing demand for confidentiality and integrity of data. Solutions based on reconfigurable logic (CPLD or FPGA) have certain advantages over ASIC and MCU/SoC alternatives. Programmable logic devices are ideal for both confidentiality and upgradability purposes. In this context the hardware security aspects of CPLD/FPGA devices are paramount. This paper shows preliminary evaluation of hardware security in Intel MAX 10 devices. These FPGAs are one of the most suitable candidates for applications demanding extensive features and high level of security. Their strong and week security aspects are revealed and some recommendations are suggested to counter possible security vulnerabilities in real designs. This is a feasibility study paper. Its purpose is to highlight the most vulnerable areas to attacks aimed at data extraction and reverse engineering. That way further investigations could be performed on specific areas of concern

General Simonds Speaks: Canadian Battle Doctrine in Normandy

On the afternoon of 11 July 1944, a Canadian Corps HQ once again became operational on the soil of France. Lieutenant-General Guy Granville Simonds assumed responsibility for 8,000 yards of front in the Caen sector. There was little time or inclination to mark this event or link it with the memory of the vaunted Canadian Corps of World War 1 fame—there was too much to be done. Elements of the newly-arrived 2nd Canadian Infantry Division would take over part of the line and acquire some badly needed experience. Plans for the Corps’ role in Operation “Goodwood” had to be elaborated while Simonds met with his Divisional and Brigade commanders. The following documents are reproduced from the War Diaries of the 2nd Field Historical Section, July 1944 (National Archives of Canada RG24 Volume 17506). Major A.T, Sesia, who commanded the unit, tried to record Simonds’ words in the first extract, but settled on a summary of the General’s views in subsequent reports

Flash-based security primitives: Evolution, challenges and future directions

Over the last two decades, hardware security has gained increasing attention in academia and industry. Flash memory has been given a spotlight in recent years, with the question of whether or not it can prove useful in a security role. Because of inherent process variation in the characteristics of flash memory modules, they can provide a unique fingerprint for a device and have thus been proposed as locations for hardware security primitives. These primitives include physical unclonable functions (PUFs), true random number generators (TRNGs), and integrated circuit (IC) counterfeit detection. In this paper, we evaluate the efficacy of flash memory-based security primitives and categorize them based on the process variations they exploit, as well as other features. We also compare and evaluate flash-based security primitives in order to identify drawbacks and essential design considerations. Finally, we describe new directions, challenges of research, and possible security vulnerabilities for flash-based security primitives that we believe would benefit from further exploration

Cost effective techniques for chip delayering and in-situ depackaging

Invasive or semi-invasive attacks require, of course, because of their nature, the removal of metal layers or at least the package de-capsulation of the chip. For many people - not expert in those sample preparation techniques - the simple access to the die surface and the observation of the chip structure after metal layers removal are the first obstacles to conduct an attack. In another direction, the development of embedded secure devices, sometime with very dense and complex assembly process, adds a new difficulty for an attacker to get a physical access to the silicon without intensive use of advanced soldering capabilities. This paper will deal with those two challenges: the first one is to provide an in-situ depackaging solution with limited ressources and then, the second one consists in finding the minimum mandatory tools required to perform chip delayering before metal layers imaging - or reverse engineering

Repeated low-dose organophosphate DFP exposure leads to the development of depression and cognitive impairment in a rat model of Gulf War Illness

Approximately 175,000 to 250,000 of the returning veterans from the 1991 Persian Gulf War exhibit chronic multi-symptom illnesses that includes neurologic co-morbidities such as depression, anxiety and cognitive impairments. Amongst a host of causative factors, exposure to low levels of the nerve agent Sarin has been strongly implicated for expression of Gulf War Illness (GWI). Nerve agents similar to pesticides are organophosphate (OP) compounds. There is evidence from civilian population that exposure to OPs such as in agricultural workers and nerve agents such as the survivors and first-responders of the Tokyo subway Sarin gas attack suffer from chronic neurological problems similar to GWI symptoms. Given this unique chemical profile, OPs are ideal to study the effects of nerve agents and develop models of GWI in civilian laboratories. In this study, we used repeated low-dose exposure to OP agent diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) over a 5-day period to approximate the duration and level of Sarin exposure during the Persian Gulf War. We tested the rats at 3-months post DFP exposure. Using a battery of behavioral assays, we observed the presence of symptoms of chronic depression, anxiety and memory problems as characterized by increased immobility time in the Forced Swim Test, anhedonia in the Sucrose Preference Test, anxiety in the Elevated Plus Maze, and spatial memory impairments in the Object Location Test, respectively. Chronic low dose DFP exposure was also associated with hippocampal neuronal damage as characterized by the presence of Fluoro-Jade staining. Given that OP exposure is considered a leading cause of GWI related morbidities, this animal model will be ideally suited to study underlying molecular mechanisms for the expression of GWI neurological symptoms and identify drugs for the effective treatment of GWIs