Browsing by Subject "Authentication"
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Item Authentication and Obfuscation of Digital Signal Processing Integrated Circuits(2015-07) Lao, YingjieAs electronic devices become increasingly interconnected and pervasive in people's lives, security, trustworthy computing, and intellectual property (IP) protection have notably emerged as important challenges for the next decade. The assumption that hardware is trustworthy and that security effort should only be focused on networks and software is no longer valid given globalization of integrated circuits and systems design and fabrication. The Semiconductor Industry Association pegged the cost of electronics counterfeiting at US $7.5 billion per year in lost revenue and tied it to the loss of 11,000 U.S. jobs. From a national defense perspective, unsecured devices can be compromised by the enemy, putting military personnel and equipment in danger. Therefore, securing integrated circuit (IC) chips, in other words, hardware security, is extremely important. This dissertation considers the design of highly secure digital signal processing circuits by employing both authentication-based and obfuscation-based approaches. In the first part of the dissertation, we focus on one emerging authentication-based solution: Physical Unclonable Function (PUF). We present novel reconfigurable PUF designs which could simultaneously achieve better reliability and security. We also present a systematic statistical analysis to quantitatively evaluate the performances of various multiplexer (MUX)-based PUFs. The statistical analysis results can be used to predict the relative advantages of various MUX-based PUF designs. These results can be used by the designer to choose a proper type of PUF or appropriate design parameters for a certain PUF based on the requirements of a specific application. Furthermore, a lightweight PUF-based local authentication scheme is also proposed, which eliminates the use of error correcting codes. In the next part of the dissertation, we consider another hardware protection method: obfuscation. Hardware obfuscation is a technique by which the description or the structure of electronic hardware is modified to intentionally conceal its functionality, which makes it significantly more difficult to reverse engineer. Unlike these prior works, We start to look at Digital Signal Processing (DSP) circuits. In the literature, security aspect of DSP circuits has only attracted little attention. However, high-level transformations of DSP circuit are intrinsically suitable for hardware obfuscation, as these techniques only alter the structure of a circuit, while maintaining the original functionality. Based on this finding, we present a novel design methodology for obfuscated DSP circuits by hiding functionality via high-level transformations. The key idea is to generate meaningful and non-meaningful design variations by using high-level transformations. In the final part of the dissertation, we consider the design and analysis of True Random Number Generator (TRNG), which is also an important topic in hardware security. We examine the modeling and statistical aspects of the proposed TRNG circuit. According to our model, we show that the performance of the beat-frequency detector based TRNG (BFD-TRNG) can be improved by appropriately adjusting design parameters. Motivated by the our analysis, we propose several alternate BFD-TRNG designs which could achieve improved performance. Various post-processing methods which are specific to the proposed designs are also studied.Item Writings on the Wall: The Need for an Authorship-Centric Approach to the Authentication of Social-Networking Evidence(University of Minnesota. Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, 2013-04-15) Robbins, Ira P.People are stupid when it comes to their online postings. The recent spate of social-networking websites has shown that people place shocking amounts of personal information online. Unlike more traditional modes of communication, the unique nature of these websites allows users to hide behind a veil of anonymity. But while social-networking sites may carry significant social benefits, they also leave users - and their personal information - vulnerable to hacking and other forms of abuse. This vulnerability is playing out in courtrooms across the country and will only increase as social-networking use continues to proliferate. This Article addresses the evidentiary hurdle of authenticating social-networking evidence, a novel legal issue confronting courts today. The Article explains and critiques four approaches used by different jurisdictions, concluding that each approach fails to adequately address the critical issue of authorship. The anonymous nature of social-networking websites, coupled with the extent of users’ personal information available online, raises serious concerns about the authorship of any piece of evidence posted to one of these sites. Litigants are using social-networking postings in court, attributing authorship to a particular person without demonstrating a sufficient nexus between the posting and the purported author. Absent this nexus, however, the evidence fails to meet even the low hurdle of authentication. To remedy this problem, this Article proposes that courts shift their focus from account ownership and content to authorship of the evidence. Working within the existing rules of evidence, this approach underscores the importance of fairness and accuracy in the outcome of judicial proceedings that involve social-networking evidence.