Hardware Attack Mitigation Techniques Analysis

Abstract

The goal of a hardware attack is to physically access a digital system to obtain secret information or modify the system behavior. These attacks can be classified as covert or overt based on the awareness of the attack. Each hardware attack has capabilities as well as objectives. Some employ hardware trojans, which are inserted during, manufacture, while others monitor system emissions. Once a hardware attack has been identified, mitigation techniques should be employed to protect the system. There are now a wide variety of techniques, which can be used against hardware attacks. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of hardware attack mitigation techniques is presented. These techniques are matched to the hardware attacks and attack criteria they can counter, which helps security personnel choose appropriate mitigation techniques to protect their systems against hardware attacks. An example is presented to illustrate the choice of appropriate countermeasures.