14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) and the University of Connecticut managed do design a new technique that should assure the integrity of hardware components against malicious altering or manufacturing flaws.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Ramesh Karri, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYU-Poly believes that people are falsely assuming that hardware elements are free of malware.
He claims that since products are in many cases assembled of components manufactured all over the world, during the transportation and in other processes, hardware elements can be tampered with.
There is some truth to his beliefs as a year ago the FBI busted a criminal organization that possessed 700 pieces of counterfeit Cisco hardware which was worth around $143 million (100 million EUR).
Since many organizations could end up with such units, Karri's team believed something had to be done to verify the integrity of hardware, especially since in many cases it is utilized by critical infrastructure agencies.
One of the techniques proposed by the scientists involved ring oscillators, devices composed of odd numbers or NOT gates whose output oscillates between two voltage levels. Since circuits that contain these devices produce specific frequencies, any kind of tampering would alter their original design, thus alerting testers that the circuit has been compromised.
To make it difficult for criminal masterminds to replicate these frequencies, the researchers proposed the creation of more versions of the ring oscillator arrangements to make it impossible to keep track of.
To test their theories they needed infected pieces of hardware, but since companies aren't that willing to hand over their property, the team asked the help of their students who managed to provide 58 samples for the experts to study.
The findings could help future studies determine the best means to protect critical components against potential attacks.