BM has announced that the company has been granted a patent on a system that will use the inherent structure of a PCB (printed circuit board) to protect codes and cryptographic keys in a manner that is designed to be highly secure and tamper-resistant.
IBM’s patented system won’t require extensive use of materials such as resin, which is used to encase packages or modules containing keys and codes. This should also reflect in a decrease in repairs, which is great news. But most importantly, the system could help protect keys and codes that encrypt data stored on any platform, meaning it would make no difference if your data were stored in an enterprise storage system or the cloud.
Traditionally, preventing tampering involves encasing modules or packages in a plastic or epoxy-like resin. Although effective, these approaches usually bring a host of problems as well: deformations and warping of circuit boards being one of them.
IBM’s approach is different as it relies on using circuitry on layers of a PCB or other laminates structure to encode codes and keys. There are physical access barriers too: additional layers of the PCB or laminate structure added above and below the layers that contain keys and codes. Also, the circuitry protecting the codes and keys can be placed in random patterns and locations. Furthermore, this circuitry is compromised of materials which are undetectable via X-ray or acoustic microscopy.
All in all, great news for security and data protection!
Source:
Phys.org (https://phys.org/news/2017-07-cryptographic-keys-codes.html)
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