New NSF-supported research addresses security breach threats in semiconductor design

The University of Maine was awarded a $400,000 grant as part of a $1.2 million collaborative research project titled “KIPPER: Scalable Learning Guided Hardware IP Protection Platform.” This project is funded by the National Science Foundation under the Secure and Trusted Cyberspace Initiative.

The project will be led by Prabuddha Chakraborty, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maine, and will run until August 31, 2028.

KIPPER addresses the growing threat of security breaches in semiconductor designs, including reverse engineering and intellectual property (IP) theft, which pose significant risks to both industry and national security. As semiconductor designs become more complex and distributed around the world, ensuring the security of unique IP becomes increasingly difficult.

This project will develop a new framework for hardware security that leverages artificial intelligence techniques such as reinforcement learning and explainable algorithms. These AI tools automate the detection of security vulnerabilities and simulate how security researchers identify attack vectors and root causes.

The platform provides design transformations that protect against security attacks with minimal additional hardware overhead, ensuring efficient protection. KIPPER streamlines the process of hardware IP protection by mimicking the strategies human researchers use to identify and protect against vulnerabilities, making it scalable and capable of evolving as new threats emerge. We aim to build adaptive defense mechanisms.

Beyond its technical achievements, this project also contributes to cybersecurity education by providing valuable open source tools and resources to the research community. These resources will foster further research and collaboration in the field of hardware security and foster innovation and knowledge sharing across academia and industry.

The broader impact of this project extends to improving security across the semiconductor industry, an area critical to technological advancement and economic stability. By developing a scalable and robust IP protection platform, KIPPER not only protects microelectronic designs from compromise, but also strengthens national security by mitigating emerging threats such as side channels and Trojan horse attacks. Masu.

Contact: Christopher Karlen, christopher.karlen@maine.edu