FPGA Unique Key Assignment for Secure Lifecycle Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) lack a single root of trust for secure programming and lifecycle management, making them vulnerable to compromise if a single key is compromised, affecting the trustworthiness throughout their lifecycle.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that assigns a unique identifier and key to each device during production, allowing secure encryption and transfer of information over unsecured networks by using symmetric or asymmetric key algorithms, ensuring secure validation and integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a single global secret key is programmed into FPGAs during production for secure distribution, then ease of manufacture and device distribution is improved, but security and trustworthiness deteriorates because compromise of one key compromises an entire production run
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single global secret key approach into multiple device-specific key pairs. Each FPGA receives a unique private key during production, eliminating the single point of failure. This segmentation isolates security compromises to individual devices rather than entire production runs, resolving the contradiction between ease of distribution and security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by making each device's security credentials unique to that specific device. Instead of uniform global keys, each FPGA has customized cryptographic identifiers and keys tailored to its individual identity, enhancing overall system security while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
2Reliability
If a unique key pair is generated for each device during production, then security and trustworthiness is improved, but device complexity increases due to key management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables self-service by allowing devices to autonomously manage their own key pairs. Each FPGA generates and retains control of its unique private key without requiring external key management infrastructure, thereby enhancing security while minimizing the complexity burden on the system administrator.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a certificate authority as an intermediary that issues digital certificates to devices based on their unique identifiers. This mediator simplifies key management by providing a trusted third-party verification mechanism that reduces the computational and administrative overhead of direct peer-to-peer key management.
3Reliability
If information is encrypted using device-specific unique keys, then security against compromise is improved, but processing overhead and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-generating and storing unique key pairs in each device during the manufacturing process. This advance preparation eliminates the need for complex real-time key generation and distribution operations, reducing computational energy requirements during actual data transmission while maintaining strong security.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for transferring information to a device include assigning a unique identifier to a device and generating a unique key for the device. The device is located at a first site, and the unique identifier is sent from the device to a second site. The unique key is obtained at the second site, and it is used for encrypting information at the second site. The encrypted information is sent from the second site to the device, where it can then be decrypted.