Hardware blocks chip hacking by analogue attack

The aim is to combining UltraSoC’s embedded on-chip analytics with Agile Analog’s on-chip analogue monitoring IP.

As well as voltage and clock glitching, these side-channel attacks can also include deliberate brown-outs and temperature variations, all to gain access to a chip’s internal circuitry, after which a brute force attack can be launched, according to UltraSoC.

UltraSoC embeds transaction-aware hardware monitors into the digital infrastructure of an SoC, interconnected via a message-based architecture. Its cyber-security products monitor the functional behaviour of digital circuitry and, it claims, allow the implementation of system-wide anomaly detection and mitigation measures. The company’s ‘Bus Sentinel’ and ‘CAN Sentinel’ hardware modules, for example, “can identify and instantaneously block suspicious communications within the chip”.

Agile Analog offers voltage, temperature and timing sensors that detect side-channel attacks or anomalous behaviour that could indicate a cyber attack. “Agile Analog has some unique technology that’s invaluable in monitoring the underlying analogue behaviour of an SoC for potential signs of suspicious or unexpected activity,” said UltraSoC CTO Gajinder Panesar. “We believe that partnerships like this are key to enabling a holistic secure embedded cybersecurity architecture with monitoring capable of delivering from fab to field.”

“Security is one of the key pain points faced by every electronics manufacturer today – particularly in industries such as automotive,” said Agile Analog’s CTO Mike Hulse. “The complementary nature of our technologies – UltraSoC offering system-level functional monitoring and Agile Analog looking at underlying analogue behaviour –  makes our products a natural fit for cyber-security.”

Both UltraSoC and Agile Analog are based in Cambridge, UK.