EETimes 25 Oct 04 has an article about how the testing structures on ICs makes them vulnerable to attacks. The basic idea is that to test a chip, you need to see inside it; this can also reveal crypto details (e.g., keys) which compromise the chip. This has been known to us with an interest in both crypto and IC design for some time, but its nice to see it exposed in the public lit. There are methods that avoid this, such as BIST, but they are less popular. ================================================= 36 Laurelwood Dr Irvine CA 92620-1299 VOX: (714) 544-9727 (home) mnemonic: P1G JIG WRAP ICBM: -117.7621, 33.7275 PGP PUBLIC KEY: by arrangement Send plain ASCII text not HTML lest ye be misquoted. Really. ------ "Don't 'sir' me, young man, you have no idea who you're dealing with" Tommy Lee Jones, MIB --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo@metzdowd.com