Implementation and characterization of flash‐based hardware security primitives for cryptographic key generation

Abstract

Hardware security primitives, also known as physical unclonable functions (PUFs), perform innovative roles to extract the randomness unique to specific hardware. This paper proposes a novel hardware security primitive using a commercial off‐the‐shelf flash memory chip that is an intrinsic part of most commercial Internet of Things (IoT) devices. First, we define a hardware security source model to describe a hardware‐based fixed random bit generator for use in security applications, such as cryptographic key generation. Then, we propose a hardware security primitive with flash memory by exploiting the variability of tunneling electrons in the floating gate. In accordance with the requirements for robustness against the environment, timing variations, and random errors, we developed an adaptive extraction algorithm for the flash PUF. Experimental results show that the proposed flash PUF successfully generates a fixed random response, where the uniqueness is 49.1%, steadiness is 3.8%, uniformity is 50.2%, and min‐entropy per bit is 0.87. Thus, our approach can be applied to security applications with reliability and satisfy high‐entropy requirements, such as cryptographic key generation for IoT devices.

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“…The road map to security devices with the unique features of post-silicon devices has been discussed, along with the most recent design strategies used by designers to address security threats, vulnerabilities, and their solutions [13]- [16]. Security experts have been working incredibly hard to create unique hardware security techniques for all various types of abovelisted attacks [17]- [22].…”

DTR-SHIELD: Mutual Synchronization for Protecting against DoS Attacks on the SHIELD Protocol with AES-CTR Mode

“…For anti-counterfeiting purposes, PUFs generate distinctive identifiers for each device, which can be verified by the manufacturer or end user, effectively thwarting counterfeit operations [16]. PUFs also excel in key storage and management as they can securely house cryptographic keys without relying on external memory [17,18]. These PUF-generated keys find application in encryption, decryption, and authentication processes.…”