Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software
The significant rise in the cost of manufacturing nanoscale integrated circuits (ICs) has led the majority of IC design companies to outsource the fabrication of their products to other companies, often located in different countries. The multinational nature of the hardware supply chain has led to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/22/2817 |
| _version_ | 1797510487963860992 |
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| author | Nemanja Kajtez Yue Zhang Basel Halak |
| author_facet | Nemanja Kajtez Yue Zhang Basel Halak |
| author_sort | Nemanja Kajtez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The significant rise in the cost of manufacturing nanoscale integrated circuits (ICs) has led the majority of IC design companies to outsource the fabrication of their products to other companies, often located in different countries. The multinational nature of the hardware supply chain has led to a host of security threats, including IP piracy, IC overproduction, and Trojan insertion. To combat these, researchers have proposed logic locking techniques to protect the intellectual properties of the design and increase the difficulty of malicious modification of its functionality. However, the adoption of logic locking approaches has been rather slow due to the lack of integration with the IC production process and the lack of efficacy of existing algorithms. This work automates the logic locking process by developing software using Python that performs the locking on a gate-level netlist, which can be integrated with the existing digital synthesis tools. Analysis of the latest logic locking algorithms has demonstrated that the SFLL-HD algorithm is one of the most secure and versatile when trading-off levels of protection against different types of attacks and was thus selected for implementation. The presented tool can also be expanded to incorporate the latest locking mechanisms to keep up with the fast-paced development in this field. The paper also presents a case study to demonstrate the functionality of the tool and how it could be used to explore the design space and compare different locking solutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:33:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1ef182d7e9f84c358db36dfd80d3fb82 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:33:09Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-1ef182d7e9f84c358db36dfd80d3fb822023-11-22T23:07:33ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922021-11-011022281710.3390/electronics10222817Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation SoftwareNemanja Kajtez0Yue Zhang1Basel Halak2School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UKSchool of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UKSchool of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UKThe significant rise in the cost of manufacturing nanoscale integrated circuits (ICs) has led the majority of IC design companies to outsource the fabrication of their products to other companies, often located in different countries. The multinational nature of the hardware supply chain has led to a host of security threats, including IP piracy, IC overproduction, and Trojan insertion. To combat these, researchers have proposed logic locking techniques to protect the intellectual properties of the design and increase the difficulty of malicious modification of its functionality. However, the adoption of logic locking approaches has been rather slow due to the lack of integration with the IC production process and the lack of efficacy of existing algorithms. This work automates the logic locking process by developing software using Python that performs the locking on a gate-level netlist, which can be integrated with the existing digital synthesis tools. Analysis of the latest logic locking algorithms has demonstrated that the SFLL-HD algorithm is one of the most secure and versatile when trading-off levels of protection against different types of attacks and was thus selected for implementation. The presented tool can also be expanded to incorporate the latest locking mechanisms to keep up with the fast-paced development in this field. The paper also presents a case study to demonstrate the functionality of the tool and how it could be used to explore the design space and compare different locking solutions.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/22/2817logic lockingdesign automationSFLL-HDhardware securityIP piracy |
| spellingShingle | Nemanja Kajtez Yue Zhang Basel Halak Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software Electronics logic locking design automation SFLL-HD hardware security IP piracy |
| title | Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software |
| title_full | Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software |
| title_fullStr | Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software |
| title_short | Lockit: A Logic Locking Automation Software |
| title_sort | lockit a logic locking automation software |
| topic | logic locking design automation SFLL-HD hardware security IP piracy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/22/2817 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nemanjakajtez lockitalogiclockingautomationsoftware AT yuezhang lockitalogiclockingautomationsoftware AT baselhalak lockitalogiclockingautomationsoftware |