New Lock Aims To End Chip Piracy

Stony Stevenson writes "Pirated microchips based on stolen blueprints could soon be a thing of the past thanks to computer engineers at Rice University and the University of Michigan. The engineers have devised a way to head off this costly infringement by giving each chip its own unique lock and key. The patent holder would hold the keys, and the chip would securely communicate with the patent holder to unlock itself. The chip could operate only after being unlocked. The Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits (Epic) technique relies on established cryptography methods, and introduces subtle changes into the chip design process without affecting performance or power consumption. With Epic protection enabled, each integrated circuit would be manufactured with a few extra switches that behave like a combination lock."

Comments

Physical DRM

[QMalcolm]

Great.

Sure, great idea

[KublaiKhan]

Presuming that there's a constant internet connection, that the manufacturer's server is incapable of being cracked and maintains at least 5-9's uptime, and that anyone's stupid enough to buy a crippled chip with this on it.

Re:Sure, great idea

[bkaul01]

It doesn't sound like this is a consumer-level activation, but a one-time, manufacturer-side process:

To activate a chip, the manufacturer would plug it in and let it contact the patent owner over an ordinary phone line or internet connection. It's intended to protect against overseas subcontractors who have access to the blueprints making extras and then going and selling them on the black market, behind the patent-holder's back. So, the overseas company would make it, ship it back to the company who owns the rights to it, where it would be activated before being distributed. The outsourced manufacturing company wouldn't have the ability to activate them, so couldn't sell extras to the black market.

Re:Sure, great idea

[poot_rootbeer]

The outsourced manufacturing company wouldn't have the ability to activate them, so couldn't sell extras to the black market.

However, since they have the blueprints to the chips, they can find the sections of the schematic that implement this activation system, create a slightly modified die where they're masked out to always return an "authorized" status, and sell THOSE pirate chips on the black market.

Re:Sure, great idea

[insertwackynamehere]

Maybe the answer is to stop outsourcing.

Not a good idea

[mlts]

In a number of countries that this chip is aimed for, what will happen is that some knockoff fab will disassemble the chip, figure out the masks, and just make and sell the same IC minus the locking circuitry.

This type of locking mechanism also brings up other points. Once the IC is "unlocked", is it unlocked for good, or just for a time period? Could some criminal organization figure out the method of re-locking it, then lock the machines who belong to the patent holder's customers? This would result in some decent havoc especially in embedded circuitry (HVAC systems, railroad switches.)

The article seems to be lacking substance as well.

When it detects that it's a pirate copy, it says:

[spun]

EPIC FAIL!

Re:This is dumb. I can crack it in two seconds.

[DCBoland]

I know this is /. but I took the time to find the actual paper, they cover the typical attacks on the security mechanism quite thoroughly. Apparently its very difficult to scan a mask, especially at the small scales the industry deals in today - they suggest it would be cheaper to simply design the chip yourself.

(Off-topic: the anti-spam mechanism atm gives an interesting result for my email address..."'poo' in gap" oO)