Tamper-protected hardware and method for using same
First Claim
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1. A tamper-protected semiconductor module comprising:
- a hardware module comprising one or more emitters for emitting a predetermined excitation that can be measured as a physical measurand, and one or more sensors for sensing the (back-) scatter of the excitation in form of the physical measurand in a contactless and/or contact-based manner, anda cocoon housing the hardware module, the cocoon being adapted to influence the (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation to be sensed by the sensors, wherein the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon provides a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF),wherein the hardware module is adapted to use the PUF provided by the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon to detect a tampering of the tamper-protected semiconductor module, andwherein the tamper-protected semiconductor module is adapted to generate a digital measured fingerprint of the tamper-protected semiconductor module from the measured values of (back-) scatter of the excitation provided by the sensors, andwherein the tamper-protected semiconductor module further comprises a processor unit for receiving Helper-Data from a storage, and for generating a secret based on the digital measured fingerprint and the Helper-Data, wherein the secret, wherein in case the digital measured fingerprint is not corresponding to a fingerprint of the un-tampered tamper-protected semiconductor module, the generated secret is incorrect due to the PUF properties of the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon.
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Abstract
One of the various aspects of the invention is related to suggesting various techniques for improving the tamper-resistibility of hardware. The tamper-resistant hardware may be advantageously used in a transaction system that provides the off-line transaction protocol. Amongst these techniques for improving the tamper-resistibility are trusted bootstrapping by means of secure software entity modules, a new use of hardware providing a Physical Unclonable Function, and the use of a configuration fingerprint of a FPGA used within the tamper-resistant hardware.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A tamper-protected semiconductor module comprising:
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a hardware module comprising one or more emitters for emitting a predetermined excitation that can be measured as a physical measurand, and one or more sensors for sensing the (back-) scatter of the excitation in form of the physical measurand in a contactless and/or contact-based manner, and a cocoon housing the hardware module, the cocoon being adapted to influence the (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation to be sensed by the sensors, wherein the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon provides a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF), wherein the hardware module is adapted to use the PUF provided by the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon to detect a tampering of the tamper-protected semiconductor module, and wherein the tamper-protected semiconductor module is adapted to generate a digital measured fingerprint of the tamper-protected semiconductor module from the measured values of (back-) scatter of the excitation provided by the sensors, and wherein the tamper-protected semiconductor module further comprises a processor unit for receiving Helper-Data from a storage, and for generating a secret based on the digital measured fingerprint and the Helper-Data, wherein the secret, wherein in case the digital measured fingerprint is not corresponding to a fingerprint of the un-tampered tamper-protected semiconductor module, the generated secret is incorrect due to the PUF properties of the measured (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation influenced by the cocoon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for detecting an attempt to tamper a tamper-protected semiconductor module, comprising the following steps:
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providing a hardware module of the tamper-protected semiconductor module, the hardware module comprising one or more emitters for emitting a predetermined excitation that can be measured as a physical measurand, and one or more sensors for sensing the (back-) scatter of the excitation in form of the physical measurand in a contactless and/or contact-based manner, housing the hardware module in a cocoon, the cocoon being adapted to influence the (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation to be sensed by the sensors, a) causing the one or more emitters of the hardware module to emit predetermined excitation, b) causing the one or more sensors of the hardware module to sense the (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation reflected by the cocoon of the tamper-protected semiconductor module, c) generating a digital measured fingerprint from (back-) scatter of the predetermined excitation sensed by the one or more sensors, and d) verifying the integrity of the cocoon by using the digital measured fingerprint recorded. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification