PUF update: New IP bypasses the need for ID enrollment

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www.edn.com, Feb. 27, 2023 – 

Security is no longer an afterthought in embedded systems, especially the connected devices serving the Internet of Things (IoT), and it's apparent from traction that new technologies like physically unclonable function (PUF) are getting in chips spanning from microcontrollers to high-performance FPGAs. The PUF technology facilitates root-of-trust in an easy, cost-effective, and flexible manner without needing to store keys.

owever, while PUFs have been introduced to generate specific key numbers for a chip, it's challenging to guarantee a low probability of identical IDs across separate chips. According to Secure-IC, a Cesson-Sévigné, France-based security solutions provider for embedded systems and connected objects, about 90% of PUF technologies cannot function independently due to their subpar performance. As a result, PUFs require an extensive enrollment phase and a rebuilding phase to improve the quality of the ID or key.

In short, PUFs can only serve as a reliable security source with enrollment phase for the cryptographic key construction. And enrollment phase is a costly process since each chip must be personalized on its own. It comprises four phases: lengthy measurements, characterization, helper data derivation, and eventually, helper data programming. But that's not supportive of the efficient personalization steps required at the test stage when producing chips at scale.

Moreover, the need for enrollment leaves the door open to hackers trying to subvert the enrollment, for instance, by forcing all the bits of the key to be the same. To address the challenges related to enrollment and rebuilding phases, high costs, and concerns regarding the system's vulnerability to attacks, Secure-IC has joined hands with hardware and software security specialist Trasna to introduce a PUF solution that does not require any enrollment phase nor a rebuilding phase.

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