Toward Efficient Evaluation of Logic Encryption Schemes: Models and Metrics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a unified model and metrics for evaluating logic encryption schemes, enabling faster, more accurate assessments of security and overhead trade-offs across various techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive logic encryption model and a standardized set of metrics applicable to multiple encryption methods, improving evaluation accuracy and efficiency.

Findings

Model enables fast evaluation of design trade-offs

Achieves at least 2X smaller prediction errors than previous methods

Supports evaluation of compound encryption techniques

Abstract

Research in logic encryption over the last decade has resulted in various techniques to prevent different security threats such as Trojan insertion, intellectual property leakage, and reverse engineering. However, there is little agreement on a uniform set of metrics and models to efficiently assess the achieved security level and the trade-offs between security and overhead. This paper addresses the above challenges by relying on a general logic encryption model that can encompass all the existing techniques, and a uniform set of metrics that can capture multiple, possibly conflicting, security concerns. We apply our modeling approach to four state-of-the-art encryption techniques, showing that it enables fast and accurate evaluation of design trade-offs, average prediction errors that are at least 2X smaller than previous approaches, and the evaluation of compound encryption methods.