Cryptographic Hardware for Embedded Systems

(3-0-3-4)

CMPE Degree: This course is Selected Elective for the CMPE degree.

EE Degree: This course is Selected Elective for the EE degree.

Lab Hours: 3 supervised lab hours and 0 unsupervised lab hours.

Technical Interest Groups / Course Categories: Threads / ECE Electives

Course Coordinator: Vincent J Mooney

Prerequisites: ECE 2031 [min C] and ECE 2040 [min C]

Catalog Description

Introduction to cryptography and authentication from a hardware-centric perspective. Historic ciphers, symmetric and asymmetric encryption, and power analysis attacks are taught from a digital and VLSI design perspective.

Textbook(s)

Applied Cryptography

Course Outcomes

Analyze the level of security provided by symmetric encryption algorithms such as DES and asymmetric encryption algorithms such as RSA. 

Write VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code to implement encryption algorithms including synthesis to hardware logic gates. 

Provide approaches to authentication able to resist attacks such as man-in-the middle and replay. 

Explain dangers associated with hardware Trojan insertion of logic gates in the chip design process including the manufacturing supply chain. 

Make tradeoffs between execution speed, area, energy/power and resistance to side-channel analysis and attacks for practical digital logic implementations of encryption and authentication.

Strategic Performance Indicators (SPIs)

N/A

Topic List

  1. Authentication - Access control, challenge-response, keys - One-way functions - VLSI circuits and characteristics
  2. Cryptography from a hardware-centric perspective - Data integrity and authenticity - Historic ciphers: substitution, permutation/transposition and one-time pads - Symmetric and asymmetric keys, models and protocols - DES and associated cryptographic hardware
  3. Power Analysis Attacks - Simple Power Analysis - Differential Power Analysis - Electro-Magnetic (EM) Analysis
  4. Cryptographic Hardware and Vulnerabilities - ASIC versus FPGA versus Microprocessor (i.e., software) - Side Channel Analysis
  5. VLSI Test, Supply Chain and Hardware Attacks - Design verification and manufacturing test - Relationship between