Towards Countering the Rise of the Silicon Trojan

Abstract

The Trojan Horse has a venerable if unwelcome history and it is still regarded by many as the primary component in Computer Network Attack. Trojans have been the direct cause of significant economic loss over the years, and a large industry has grown to counter this insidious threat. To date, Trojans have in the vast majority taken the form of malicious software. However, more recent times have seen the emergence of what has been dubbed by some as the 'Silicon Trojan'; these trojans are embedded at the hardware level and can be designed directly into chips and devices. The complexity of the design of the device or chip in which they are embedded, coupled with the severe difficulty of evaluating increasingly dense, proprietary hardware designs, can make their discovery extremely difficult. This paper explores the possible effectiveness of a Silicon Trojan, whether they form a credible ongoing threat, and describes possible approaches which can be used as countermeasures.