Concepedia

A Survey on Chip to System Reverse Engineering

Md Shahed Enamul Quadir, Junlin Chen, Domenic Forte, Navid Asadizanjani, Sina Shahbazmohamadi, Lei Wang, John A. Chandy, Mark Tehranipoor

ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems · 2016 · 250 citations · 53 references

DOI

TL;DR

Reverse engineering of electronic chips and systems can be used for both legitimate and malicious purposes, and awareness of current attacker capabilities is essential for protecting critical intellectual property. The article surveys chip, board, and system‑level reverse engineering and anti‑reverse engineering techniques. The survey also identifies challenges, limitations of anti‑RE methods, and outlines research directions to address them.

Abstract

The reverse engineering (RE) of electronic chips and systems can be used with honest and dishonest intentions. To inhibit RE for those with dishonest intentions (e.g., piracy and counterfeiting), it is important that the community is aware of the state-of-the-art capabilities available to attackers today. In this article, we will be presenting a survey of RE and anti-RE techniques on the chip, board, and system levels. We also highlight the current challenges and limitations of anti-RE and the research needed to overcome them. This survey should be of interest to both governmental and industrial bodies whose critical systems and intellectual property (IP) require protection from foreign enemies and counterfeiters who possess advanced RE capabilities.