ELECTRONIC DEVICES WITH INDIVIDUAL SECURITY CIRCUITS

• US 20180012459A1
• Filed: 11/21/2016
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DRAGONE, Silvio, HAGLEITNER, Christoph, OGGIONI, Stefano S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,008,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/128 the housing being an electronic circuit unit, e.g. memory or CPU chip protecting computer components in secure or tamper resistant housings G06F21/86; protecting computer input devices, e.g. keyboards G06F21/83

Abstract

Manufacturing a batch is provided which includes a plurality of items of an electronic device, the items including a plurality of corresponding main modules having a same functional structure substantially identical for the items. The method includes defining at least one security electric circuit, of an enclosure component for enclosing each item, adapted to protect the item from tampering, the security electric circuits having individual configurations substantially different among the items, for use in forming the security electric circuit with the corresponding configuration on each enclosure component. Additionally, the method includes determining one or more electric characteristics of each security electric circuit for use in configuring a monitoring circuit of the corresponding main module, the monitoring circuit being adapted to the corresponding security electric circuit for detecting the tampering, according to the electric characteristics of the corresponding security circuits.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for manufacturing a batch comprising a plurality of items of an electronic device, the items comprising a plurality of corresponding main modules having a same functional structure substantially identical for the items, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

defining at least one security electric circuit, of an enclosure component for enclosing each item, adapted to protect the item from tampering, the security electric circuits having individual configurations substantially different among the items, for use in forming the security electric circuit with the corresponding configuration on each enclosure component; and

determining one or more electric characteristics of each security electric circuit for use in configuring a monitoring circuit of the corresponding main module, the monitoring circuit being adapted to monitor the corresponding security electric circuit for detecting the tampering, according to the electric characteristics of the corresponding security electric circuit.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

defining the security electric circuit in a substantial random way.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

storing an indication of a pool of candidate security electric circuits for the batch; and

selecting the security electric circuit of each enclosure component among the pool of candidate security electric circuits in a substantial random way.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

identifying a plurality of points spanning a portion surface corresponding to each of one or more portions of the enclosure component corresponding to the security electric circuit;

determining a path crossing at least part of the plurality of points of each portion surface; and

defining the security electric circuit according to the corresponding paths.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the determining a path comprises:

selecting an origin point among the plurality of points of the portion surface; and

determining the path as crossing each point of the portion surface once starting from the origin point and returning to the origin point.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5, wherein the selecting an origin point comprises:

selecting the origin point in a substantial random way.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5, wherein the determining the path comprises:

determining the path according to a Travelling Salesman Problem algorithm.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

partitioning a circuit surface corresponding to the security electric circuit into a plurality of the portion surfaces ordered in a sequence with each pair of consecutive ones of the portion surfaces in the sequence being adjacent; and

concatenating the paths of the portion surfaces along the sequence.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein the concatenating the paths comprises, for each portion surface different from a last one of the portion surfaces along the sequence:

selecting a first end point and a second end point of the portion surface adjacent to each other, the first end point and the second end point being adjacent to a next one of the portion surfaces along the sequence;

cutting the path of the portion surface between the first end point and the second end point;

selecting a first start point and a second start point of the next portion surface, the first start point and the second start point being adjacent to the first end point and to the second end point, respectively;

cutting the path of the next portion surface between the first start point and the second start point; and

connecting the first end point to the first start point and the second end point to the second start point.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein at least one of:

the selecting a first end point and a second end point comprises selecting the first end point and the second end point in a substantial random way;

or

the selecting a first start point and a second start point comprises selecting the first start point and the second start point in a substantial random way.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein the partitioning a circuit surface comprises:

partitioning the circuit surface into the portion surfaces according to corresponding partitioning curves approximating a plane-filling curve.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the partitioning a circuit surface comprises:

defining each portion surface according to the points of the circuit surface surrounding the corresponding partitioning curve.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 12, wherein each partitioning curve comprises a plurality of segments, the defining each portion surface comprising:

defining each portion surface according to an extension array of the points of the circuit surface surrounding each segment of the corresponding partitioning curve extending along a selected direction.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

selecting a first contact point and a second contact point in the security electric circuit in a substantial random way for use in contacting the security electric circuit by the monitoring circuit of the corresponding main module.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuit comprises:

compressing each corresponding path by eliminating each point of the path arranged between a pair of the points of the path along each direction.

16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the defining at least one security electric circuits comprises:

developing a functional area of the enclosure component corresponding to the security electric circuit into a planar surface;

defining the security electric circuit for the planar surface; and

projecting the security electric circuit from the planar surface onto the functional area of the enclosure component.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, comprising:

providing the main modules;

providing a plurality of workpieces corresponding to the enclosure components;

forming the security electric circuit with the corresponding configuration on each enclosure component;

configuring the monitoring circuit of each main module according to the electric characteristics of the corresponding security electric circuit; and

assembling each main module and the corresponding enclosure component.

18. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing system to cause the computing system to perform a method for manufacturing a batch comprising a plurality of items of an electronic device, the items comprising a plurality of corresponding main modules having a same functional structure substantially identical for the items, wherein the method comprises;

defining at least one security electric circuit, of an enclosure component for enclosing each item, adapted to protect the item from tampering, the security electric circuits having individual configurations substantially different among the items, for use in forming the security electric circuit with the corresponding configuration on each enclosure component; and

determining one or more electric characteristics of each security electric circuit for use in configuring a monitoring circuit of the corresponding main module, the monitoring system being adapted to monitor the corresponding security electric circuit for detecting the tampering, according to the electric characteristics of the corresponding security electric circuit.

19. A system for manufacturing a batch comprising a plurality of items of an electronic device, the items comprising a plurality of corresponding main modules having a same functional structure substantially identical for all the items, wherein the system comprises:

a memory; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the system performs a method comprising;

defining at least one security electric circuit, of an enclosure component for enclosing each item, adapted to protect the item from tampering, the security electric circuits having individual configurations substantially different among the items, for use in forming the security electric circuit with the corresponding configuration on each enclosure component; and

determining one or more electric characteristics of each security electric circuit for use in configuring a monitoring circuit of the corresponding main module, the monitoring circuit being adapted to monitor the corresponding security electric circuit for detecting the tampering, according to the electric characteristics of the corresponding security electric circuit.

20. A batch comprising a plurality of items of an electronic device, the items comprising:

a plurality of corresponding main modules having a same functional structure substantially identical for the items;

a plurality of corresponding enclosure components for enclosing the items, each one comprising at least one security electric circuit adapted to protect the corresponding item from tampering, the security electric circuits having individual configurations substantially different among the items; and

wherein each main module comprises a monitoring circuit, the monitoring circuit being adapted to monitor the corresponding security electric circuit for detecting the tampering, and being configured according one to or more electric characteristics of the corresponding security electric circuit.