Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains and Networks using Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Blockchain
Abstract
The rapid advancement in the semiconductor industry has enabled the broad adoption of electronics into virtually every sector of society, including commercial, industrial, and defense spaces. Unfortunately, globalization opens Pandora’s box of threats, including untrusted electronic products, counterfeit ICs, piracy of intellectual properties (IPs), cloning, and malicious modifications with hardware Trojans. Keeping track of all these devices becomes crucial for enabling supply chain integrity, and managing the processing and communication of data using these devices becomes crucial for securing information over heterogeneous and dynamic networks. The primary objective of this proposal is to develop novel solutions using zero-knowledge proofs and blockchain technologies to enable security in electronic hardware as well as to enable routing data securely over dynamic communication networks. Our objective is to integrate zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) into blockchain to address a wide variety of hardware and network threats. We plan to integrate the unclonable device fingerprints from a physically unclonable function (PUF) in creating ZKP proofs. Second, a significant issue with current supply chain record-keeping is scalability and storage. We plan to explore different options to develop a one-size-fits-all solution to address a wide variety of supply chain-related issues. Third, we will develop techniques for operating blockchain platforms on dynamic communication networks, such as satellite relay networks, where nodes may be operated by heterogeneous entities and suffer from intermittent and, in some cases, unpredictable connections to each other; further, we will develop mechanisms using blockchain technology to ensure the security of data routed over multiple hops on these heterogeneous dynamic networks. Fourth, we will explore methods for bootstrapping, a small trusted hardware component, to secure a larger untrusted hardware device; among other things, this method with leverage zero-knowledge proofs with a special structure that enables merging several proofs of related statements into a single (short) zero-knowledge proof.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310312
Entities
People
- Ujjwal Guin
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Auburn University
- United States Air Force