Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Six Universities Establish Semi, PCB Security Research Center

DALLAS, TX – Six US universities established a research center to address protection of the security of semiconductors, PCBs, and other computer hardware, according to reports.

The Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust (CHEST) is led by the University of Texas at Dallas; University of Cincinnati; Northeastern University; University of California, Davis; University of Connecticut; and the University of Virginia.

CHEST is a National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center that currently includes 23 members across industry and governmental laboratories, with an overall investment over $13 million, including NSF funds and dues from Industrial Advisory Board members. Congress also included $3 million for the center through the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

Yiorgos Makris, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a $750,000, five-year NSF grant in 2019 to launch the UT Dallas CHEST site, which opened in 2020. UT Dallas researchers have received $705,000 for research projects so far.

“Increasingly, hardware can be the entry point for a cyberattack,” said Makris. “That’s why it is so important for researchers, industry, and national and federal laboratories to work together to develop solutions. We are excited to be part of such a collaborative effort through CHEST.”

The consortium’s research focuses on the security and trust of wireless communication devices, threat detection and prevention, protection of IP from unauthorized use, and provenance attestation.

“Suppose a bad actor replaces a chip during a service or upgrade, enabling capabilities that can cause the power distribution network to fail. Semiconductor tampering also has implications for consumer electronics, such as wireless communication devices, where private data may be leaked by untrusted chips, or the automotive industry, where safety may be compromised by counterfeit parts. The global shortage of semiconductors increases the risk of the use of counterfeit parts. The semiconductor shortage does not just affect productivity and the ability of industry to keep producing cars, phones and consumer electronics. The situation also has deeper security implications as desperate suppliers or consumers turn to the gray market to find parts.”