Heinz Kreft

Cocoon-PUF, a novel mechatronic secure element technology

A new Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) technology is proposed. The technology is targeting the implementation of a highly secure unclonable electromechanical device. The resulting system includes a physical unit providing identification properties mutually-dependent on both microelectronic and mechanical components. The technology is based on combining very high frequency wave propagation, scattering and reflection based on dielectric and/or magnetic particles or composites (potted) in matrices of a closed medium with mechanical spatial factors related to encapsulation material. It is assigned the name Cocoon-based Physical Unclonable Function (Cocoon-PUF). The resulting fingerprint properties are related to the transmitters and sensors integrated on the chip die, the spatial randomized distribution in the encapsulation matrix (potting material), offering unpredictable and hence practically impossible to clone or duplicate mechatronic units. The targeted Cocoon-PUF is to build rigging-resistant non-silicon based mechanical footprints in tamper resistant packaging. Additionally, the proposed technology fits to the tendency and requirement of protection against Electro-Magnetic-Pulse (EMP) surges (as TEMPEST design), which can be seen as an additional pleasant side effect of Electro-Magnetic-Compatibility (EMC) of the Cocoon protection principle. The paper presents the basic technology principles and shows first promising prototyping results of that new technology.

Wallet Based E-Cash System for Secured Multi-hop Cash Exchange

The majorities of contemporary proposed digital cash techniques have many disadvantages in being directly or indirectly account based or not anonymous and offer no offline peer-to-peer transferability. This is for the majority of users - in general - not acceptable. Such an approach fails to replace the role of cash in e-commerce systems. The basic result of this research is a new prepaid multi- hop (transferable) cash payment system solution based on hardware technology implementing an electronic wallet (e- wallet) to accommodate digital coins. Transparent cash transfer (exchange) protocol software can serve at any network device as Internet host, mobile device or any future general purpose communication link. The result is a peer to peer (P2P) electronic cash transfer equivalent to a physical cash transfer in public use. This e-cash system could be a possible alternative to the physical coins & bills. It is a multi-purpose inter-operable digital cash payment scheme for domestic usage. The system is suitable for low value (micro payments in the 1 cent range), as well as for larger payments, regardless of the communication platform or transmission medium.

RF identification and security technique for highly-secure UWB information systems

A simple and reliable technique for securing information systems is presented in this paper. This technique is based on extracting fingerprints from the measured transmission parameters of a microstructured multi-port device. A possible scenario for on-chip implementation of such approach is discussed as well. Similarity measures between all generated fingerprint-tuples are thoroughly studied and investigated. The generalized correlation matrix concept is also employed in order to have a complete insight of the uniqueness and similarity between the generated RFID functions. All measurements are performed in the UWB frequency range. The proposed technique can be a promising candidate for omnipresent physically secured embedded chip information applications.

A novel RF fingerprinting approach for hardware integrated security

A novel approach for RF fingerprinting using a simple microwave passive device is proposed. This device is a multi-port cavity resonator filled with a dielectric material mixed with randomly-distributed micro- or nano-particles. Such structure generates a typical Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) that can be perfectly used for storing and protecting secure information. This mixture guarantees a spatial random distortion on the electromagnetic fields and consequently a unique fingerprint. The extraction of these fingerprints is based on the scattered near-fields which are represented by the S-parameters. Preliminary measurement results show a high degree of reliability and reproducibility of the fingerprints over the UWB frequency range.

FairCASH: Concepts and Framework

This paper presents the framework for a true digital cash based payment system. The significant difference of this system as compared with previous system is that the value token is transferable among the users. This is achieved by using a tamper-resistant hardware to protect the value token. As a consequence of non-existing tamper-proof hardware, various measures are built into the system to detect and isolate fraud.

On the physical robustness of RF on-chip nanostructured security

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the physical robustness of a newly-proposed RF-based fingerprinting and security technique. This technique aims at securing electronic chips utilizing the fabrication technology as well as chip packaging. It is based on using micro- and nanostructured composite materials mixed with a dielectric fixing matrix. Several experimental investigations on the repeatability, temperature-robustness and response to physical attacks on different mixtures and particle sizes are herewith discussed.

UWB on-chip fingerprinting and identification using carbon nanotubes

This paper presents new experimental investigations on a newly-proposed Ultra-Wideband (UWB) nanostructured identification and security technique. This technique is dedicated to securing electronic chips by using unique fingerprints created by electromagnetic waves interacting with nanostructured materials. The introduced work focuses on Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) as a new candidate that is recently proposed by the authors. Physical robustness of this technique is meanwhile investigated with respect to aging effects, temperature variations and group delay measurements. The illustrated results proved the functionality of this new approach for hardware and chip security applications in the UWB range.

fairCASH - A Digital Cash Candidate for the proposed GCC Gulf Dinar

The contemporary e-commerce is still missing a widely available and acceptable electronic cash (e-cash) system for the masses. This problem is due to the conflict of interests between banks, governments and community. In this paper we first describe the problems faced by past e-cash systems. Then we focus on the so-called success factors, which are essentially required for a highly accepted e-cash system. Based on these success factors, we will present a new system called fairCASH. fairCASH is a multi-purpose, multihop, pre-paid and anonymous electronic payment system. It makes use of a secured chip (CASTOR), which is completely under users control. The chip uses a new identification technology called Electronic Identity Mutation (EIM) to fabricate uniquely electronic identities.

RF Nanostructured Security

This chapter gives an intensive overview of some recent micro‐ and nanostructured Radio Frequency (RF) security issues. It identifies the challenges of tomorrow’s security problems and why this has been a big relevance not only to nano-communications but also to other applications. A short overview on the traditional Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) introduces the reader into the concept of applied electromagnetic waves interacting with nanomaterials. Major security and fingerprinting contributions, which are newly‐proposed and implemented by the authors, are concluded in this chapter. These security techniques are based on artificially‐synthesized disordered micro and nano materials. A potential on‐chip realization and integration scenario of such approach is also discussed. Novel material synthesis technologies and functional prototype production processes are illustrated. Extraction process of RF fingerprints, based on near‐field scattering measurements, is included as well. Finally, statistical analysis and distance measures of similarity, uniqueness and orthogonality of the extracted fingerprints are carefully investigated at the end of this chapter.