CRII: SaTC: Design Space Modeling for Logic Obfuscation to Enable System-Wide Security during IC Manufacture and Test

由于半导体制造成本上升，计算机芯片设计者越来越依赖离岸制造商。这些制造商通常被认为是不受信任的，这引发了人们对知识产权盗版和盗窃的担忧。逻辑混淆，也称为逻辑锁定，是为了缓解这些威胁而开发的，然而，其有效性因混淆资源在整个系统中的分配方式而有很大差异。本项目研究如何对系统中逻辑模糊的高级配置进行建模、自动化和评估，以最小的设计开销最大限度地提高安全性。该项目的创新之处在于对模糊资源分配问题的系统范围的看法，以及为该分配问题生成数学模型的框架。这些模型的目的是自动识别预算模糊资源在各种计算机芯片中的有效分布，并提供有关模糊如何保护复杂系统的直观信息。该项目更广泛的意义和重要性在于通过自动化降低了为高信任应用(例如，医疗保健、国防、金融和汽车)开发安全计算机芯片的门槛。教育和研究的结合是一个关键目标。这包括为研究生和本科生提供研究机会，以及为劳动力培训下一代安全专家的开源课程模块。该项目在组合门级逻辑混淆方案与它们所保护的更大集成电路中的安全影响之间架起了知识鸿沟的桥梁。具体地说，该项目开发了用于逻辑混淆系统配置的设计空间建模框架，以便对混淆资源进行预算，将资源分配给设计区域，并在这些区域中指定混淆方案。在给定各种模糊处理资源的固定预算的情况下，这些模型可以自动识别模糊处理配置，从而以最小的设计开销实现系统范围的安全目标。研究成果是1)用于模糊处理的可量化的系统安全指标，2)用于模糊处理的开源设计空间建模框架，以及3)生成模型的验证。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Due to the rising cost of semiconductor manufacturing, computer chip designers are increasingly reliant on offshore manufacturers. These manufacturers are generally considered to be untrusted, driving concerns of intellectual property (IP) piracy and theft. Logic obfuscation, also called logic locking, was developed to mitigate these threats, however, its effectiveness varies widely based on how obfuscation resources are allocated throughout a system. This project studies how to model, automate, and evaluate the high-level configuration of logic obfuscation in a system to maximize security with minimal design overhead. The project's novelties are the system-wide view of the obfuscation resource allocation problem and the framework to generate mathematical models for this allocation problem. The purpose of these models is to automatically identify effective distributions of budgeted obfuscation resources in varied computer chips and provide intuition on how obfuscation secures a complex system. The project's broader significance and importance are in lowering the barrier to developing secure computer chips for high-trust applications (e.g., healthcare, defense, finance, and automotive) through automation. The integration of education and research is a key objective. This includes research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students as well as open-source course modules to train next-generation security experts for the workforce. This project bridges the knowledge gap between combinational, gate-level logic obfuscation schemes and their security impact in the larger integrated circuit they protect. Specifically, the project develops a design space modeling framework for logic obfuscation system configuration in order to budget obfuscation resources, allocate resources to design regions, and specify obfuscation schemes in these regions. Given a fixed budget of various obfuscation resources, these models automatically identify obfuscation configurations that fulfill system-wide security goals with minimal design overhead. The research artifacts are 1) quantifiable system security metrics for obfuscation, 2) an open-source design space modeling framework for obfuscation, and 3) a verification of generated models.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.