A pair of Vermont researchers is developing a self-destructing microchip that can disable itself if it falls into the wrong hands.
Eric Hunt-Schroeder, a senior staff manager at Marvell Technology, and University of Vermont professor Tian Xia have been refining their technology for several years, and the work is becoming more urgent. An estimated one trillion semiconductor chips are manufactured every year for use in vehicles, appliances and communications systems, making them enticing targets for a cyberattack.
Some chips use physically unclonable functions, or PUFs, which act as digital fingerprints. Hunt-Schroeder and Xia have come up with a way to use inherent weaknesses in the chips, such as their susceptibility to aging, temperature variation and voltage changes, to alter that electronic fingerprint and render the chip unusable. An engineering newsletter described the technology as “circuit suicide.”
“We are doing physical damage within the chip,” Hunt-Schroeder said. “You’re not going to see a cloud of smoke, but devices within the chip will be damaged to the point where their intended function is corrupted in a way that renders it inoperable.”
Someone who wanted to recycle a piece of electronic equipment could enter a code that would destroy the chip, for instance. Or, the chip would self-destruct if someone tampered with the metal case surrounding it.
Another potential use: in a device with a limited lifespan.
“This could be military applications where the data should only be present until the mission is complete, and then we no longer want that information to exist,” Xia said.
There are other methods on the market for erasing data, but Hunt-Schroeder said their unique system can detect when someone is trying to clone a chip’s PUF — its unique fingerprint. No two chips are exactly the same.
“You could have the fastest circuit in the world, but if somebody can make a counterfeit or duplicate of it, it’s somewhat worthless,” Hunt-Schroeder said.
The technology was a hit at a February conference for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in San Francisco. A newsletter about the event described several technologies that researchers introduced “to fight even the sneakiest hack attacks.”
“If it’s somehow compromised, this PUF can actually destroy itself. It’s extra-thorough at it, too,” the newsletter reported on Hunt-Schroeder and Xia’s tech.
The two have applied for a patent but expect the process to take years. They said they don’t yet know how or when they will take the concept to market. Marvell is funding the research.
UVM researchers frequently work with Essex Junction chipmaker GlobalFoundries and Marvell, which has an office in Burlington. Professor Linda Schadler, UVM’s acting provost and dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, said the goal is to produce technology that both parties own and benefit from if it makes it to market.
Xia and Hunt-Schroeder hope that in the future, companies will be able to tell consumers how to activate a self-destruct mechanism before they recycle their chip-enabled devices.
“The classic technique was that you take your hard drive out and you drill through it, or you break it in half,” Hunt-Schroeder said. “We’re basically shortcutting that and saying, ‘You don’t need to take apart your laptop. Why don’t you just send this command and destroy the data?'”
GlobalFoundries, Marvell and the UVM Office of Research will exhibit at the Vermont Tech Jam on Saturday, October 26, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Hula in Burlington. Find details, and register to attend the free event, at techjamvt.com.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Circuit Breaker | Vermont researchers are working on a self-destructing microchip”
This article appears in The Tech Issue 2024.
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