A single flipped bit or a weak random number generator can cause secure systems to fail. The main objective of this
proposal is to close the gap between the mathematical heaven of cryptographic algorithms and their efficient, secure and
robust hardware implementations. It requires integrating secure cryptographic primitives such as random number
generators (RNGs) and physically uncloneable functions (PUFs), together with physical attack countermeasures. Therefore
• We will study, design and implement RNGs and PUFs with demonstrable entropy guarantees and quality metrics. This
includes on-the-fly entropy testing and physical attacks evaluations. This will enable more secure systems and easier
certification.
• State-of-the-art cryptography and countermeasures can fail due to low-entropy random numbers. The unknown is ‘how
much’ they will fail and how much entropy degradation can be tolerated (due to attacks or RNG designs mixing true and
pseudo randomness). Our objective is to study the strength and gradual security degradation when using lower entropy
random numbers. This will enable more optimal and secure implementations.
• These objectives have to be combined with hardware efficiency and flexibility. This means addressing the extremely lowcost
and low-power requirements of constrained embedded devices, low-latency of real-time memory encryption, or high
throughput of future terabit networks.
Ultimately, we target security building blocks that are flexible, hardware-friendly, efficient, and robust against physical
attacks, and which will be demonstrated on European relevant use cases.
We bring together experts from industry, academia and evaluation labs with collective ambitions, potential and track records
and with complementary expertise, dissemination and impact potential. Results will not only benefit the companies involved
and their customers, but also the broader ICT through publications and inputs to standardization and certification bodies.