Security of heterogeneous systems on chip
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Date
2025
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Université Badji Mokhtar Annaba
Abstract
The increasing complexity and globalization of integrated circuit (IC) supply chains have introduced critical vulnerabilities to hardware systems, particularly System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures. These architectures, due to their intricate designs and external dependencies, are highly susceptible to hardware Trojans (HTs). Hardware Trojans represent a significant security threat, capable of compromising data integrity, system functionality, and user privacy.
This dissertation presents two key contributions to address this challenge. First, a passive method for detecting externally activated hardware Trojans is introduced. This method is particularly effective in the context of radio receivers, where external signals can be used to activate hidden Trojan circuits. By leveraging passive side-channel monitoring techniques, this approach identifies anomalous patterns without interfering with system operation, improving detection accuracy for Trojans that activate only in response to specific external stimuli. The second contribution is the development of a ardware security module (HSM) designed to protect data integrity through encryption. This HSM incorporates robust encryption mechanisms to guard against unauthorized access or data manipulation, ensuring that sensitive data remains intact and secure. The module integrates real-time encryption with
integrity-checking, offering comprehensive protection against hardware and software-level tampering. Key results show moderate success for both contributions. The passive detection method demonstrated a medium level of accuracy in identifying externally activated Trojans in controlled radio receiver environments, with some challenges in minimizing false positives. Similarly, the hardware security module achieved a reasonable balance between performance overhead and data integrity protection, making it suitable for certain medium-critical applications but with room for further optimization in high-performance systems. These findings contribute to the detection of hardware Trojans and securing SoC designs, providing a foundation for future improvements in hardware security solutions.
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Keywords
globalization; integrated circuits (IC); system-on-chip (Soc); hardware trojans (HTs); hardware security module (HSM); externally activated hardware trojan; encryption