459 lines
32 KiB
TeX
459 lines
32 KiB
TeX
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\begin{document}
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\title{A High-Security Physical Security Primitive Based On Mechanical Movement}
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\author{Jan Götte}
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\date{2020-09-15}
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\maketitle
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\section{Abstract}
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In this paper, we introduce a novel, highly effective countermeasure against physical attacks: Inertial hardware
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security modules. Whereas conventional technology can be categorized into systems monitoring a thin boundary (such as
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security meshes) and systems monitoring the interior volume (such as the "enclosure PUF" of Tobisch et al.). What all of
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these systems have in common is that they try to detect attacks by crafting sensors responding to increasingly minute
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manipulations of the monitored medium. Our approach is novel in that we alleviate the sensitivity requirement of a
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security mesh by increasing the complexity of any manipulation at all by orders of magnitude by fastly rotating the
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security mesh--presenting a moving target to an attacker. Attempts to modify the rotation itself are easily monitored
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with commercial MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes.
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Our approach leads to a HSM that can easily be built from off-the-shelf parts by any university electronics lab, yet is
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as secure or more secure than even the best commercial offerings.
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\section{Introduction}
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Since the early days of computers, physical security has often been a core component of any computer system's security
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architecture. Physical security in fact predates our modern concept of computer security by decades. Long before
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passwords, access control lists, role-based authentication and other modern concepts of information security were
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developed, information was secured by physically locking away the computers that held it.
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Nowadays, concerns of physical security are mostly limited to certain applications. Credit card processing and medical
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data processing are two instances where a combination of smartcards and hardware security modules is used to provide a
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higher level of security than what ordinary computers can provide. Meanwhile, in most commercial data processing
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applications, the physical security provided by an average datacenter is considered to be appropriate.
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In modern systems, phyiscal security always is tightly interwoven with the system's overall security architecture.
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Beyond the level provided by locks and guards, it is generally considered infeasible to physically secure all parts of a
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computer. High-level physical security is usually limited to either a single chip or part of a chip such as a secure
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element, enclave or smartcards--or it is limited to a small module acting within a very limited scope, as is the case in
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commercial HSMs that largely act as cryptographic co-processors with built-in key management functions.
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\subsection{Technical approaches to physical security}
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The use of chips as secure elements has recently become popular beyond the smartcards of yesteryear. Apple has carried
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over a secure enclave IC from their line of phones into their line of laptops in 2016. Likewise, Google has developed
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its own security IC for use in phones and laptops. An issue to consider with all such IC-based security solutions is
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that they do not provide any cryptographic security. The real-world security of these solutions solely rests on the
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assumption that due to their fine structure, ICs are hard to reverse engineer and manipulate. As of now, this property
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holds and in the authors' opinion it will likely be a reasonable assumptions for some years to come. However, in its
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essence this is a type of security by obscurity: Obscurity here mostly applying to the rarity of tools that are
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necessary for practical attacks such as focused ion beam workstations and accompanying sample preparation equipment. An
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important observation in this regard is that already, several people are slowly chipping away at this obscurity: A group
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at Ruhr University Bochum is working on advanced tooling for netlist reverse engineering, and there are several
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companies offering commercial IC reverse engineering services.
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\subsection{Hardware Security Modules}
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At larger physical dimensions, hardware security modules (HSMs) provide an effective solution to the problem: In
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conformity with Kerckhoff's principle, their creators do not try to hide the structure of the system within. Instead,
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the HSM monitors it for any manipulation and wipes all key material when one is detected. The most common commercial
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realization of this is what we call a "boundary-monitoring" HSM. This is a device uses a microcontroller monitoring the
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conductivity of usually two electrical traces that are folded many times to cover the entire area of a plastic enclosure
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part or a plastic foil wrapped around the module. The security problem thus gets transformed into a manufacturing
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challenge: How fine can these traces be made--so they are disturbed by even the tiniest of holes for say, a fine needle;
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and how sensitive can they be made to perturbations--so they break from even gentle attempts at mechanical, chemical or
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other physical manipulation.
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The other type of HSM that so far has garnered mostly academic interest are what we call "volumetric" HSMs. Where a
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boundary-monitoring HSM senses disturbations to a thin boundary between its inside and the outside world, a volumetric
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HSM monitors its entire interior volume. Approaches that have been proposed so far include monitoring using
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electromagnetic radiation % FIXME: citation (paper1 (this chip thing w/ distributed PAs/LNAs), paper2 (RUB)
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and ultrasonic sensing. % FIXME: citation
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Common to both approaches is that for technical reasons the wavelength of the employed radiation is in the range of
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millimeters or larger. This implies that practical attacks acting on a smaller scale of physical size require sensitive
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monitoring circuity to be reliably caught. % FIXME maybe talk to a physicist here.
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Since they require advanced transceivers and signal processing, these HSMs incur a high implementation cost compared to
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one based on a traditional security mesh, while they in turn promise to be easier and less expensive to scale in
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physical size. A severe problem with any previous volumetric designs is that their security analysis is very hard. While
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multiple designs have been proposed academically, none of these proposals include an analysis of their physical security
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properties that goes beyond guesswork. %FIXME verify this.
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The obvious reason for this is that to evaluate the volume inside the HSM that is covered by a given transceiver
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combination and a given test signal pattern necessarily requires numerically solving the volumetric electromagnetic
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field equations inside the HSM, applying a model of transmitter and receiver to the results that takes into account
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receiver sensitivity and ADC resolution, transmitter power and receiver saturation effects and then validating that
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every point in space (or at least inside a boundary region) is covered. While the guess that attacks are impractical
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might still be true this would be based on the fact that the same problem presents itself to an attacker trying to
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circumvent these measures--degrading their security to simple obscurity again.
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\subsection{Inertial HSMs: A new approach to physical security}
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We are certain that there is still much work to be done and many insights to be gained from further explorations
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of the two concepts described above. Trivially, consider a box with mirrored walls that, suspended on thin wires,
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contains a smaller box that has cameras looking outward in all directions at the mirrored walls. Given that the defender
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can control lighting conditions inside this kaleidoscopic box in this application modern cameras can be considered
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equivalent to or better than the human eye. Thus, a successful physical attack on this system would likely an
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"invisibility cloaks"--and the system would remain secure as long as no such thing exists. This example is a useful
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point of reference. To be viable, a HSM technology must be either smaller or more sensitive than such a setup.
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The candidate we wish to introduce in this paper uses a novel approach to side-step the issues of both the concepts
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introduced in the previous section and provides radically better security against physical attacks--both in theory and
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in practice.
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Our core observation is that given any less expensive but more coarse HSM technology, we can make it radically more
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difficult to attack by introducing fast mechanical motion. As a trivial example, consider a HSM as it is used in
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ecommerce applications for credit card payments. Focusing on its main defense for simplicity, its physical security is
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limited by the structure size of the mesh that is likely used in its shell. If an attacker can tap the mesh's electrical
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traces and bridge across the mesh in a way the HSM cannot detect (e.g. by making sure the bridge has the same electrical
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impedance as the mesh traces have e.g. by comparing against another device of the same type), they have circumvented the
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device's protections. Any such attack would likely involve some fine drill bits, needles, wires, glue, perhaps solder or
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even lasers.
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Now consider the same HSM, but this time mounted on a large flywheel. In this scenario the HSM uses the same
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protections as before, but is now additionally equipped with an accelerometer that it uses to verify that it is in fact
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rotating at a very high speed. How would an attacker approach this HSM? They would have to either slow down the rotation
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(which would quickly be sensed by the accelerometer) or they would have to attack the moving HSM--the HSM literally
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becomes a moving target. While rotating the entire attack workbench might be possible for slow speeds, rotating frames
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of reference quickly become inhospitable to human life and at some point the technical means to rotate a CNC attack
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robot probably weighing several kilograms become inconvenient as well. Contact-less EM or optical attacks are more
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limited in the first place, and can effectively be shielded.
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\subsection{Contributions}
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This work contains the following contributions:
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\begin{enumerate}
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\item Presentation of the \emph{Inertial HSM} concept, allowing cost-effective prototype and small-scale production
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of highly secure HSMs.
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\item Discussion of possible boundary sensing modes in the intertial HSM model.
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\item Exploration of the design space of inertial HSMs.
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% FIXME \item Presentation of a prototype inertial HSM.
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% FIXME \item Measurement of the prototype HSM's susceptibility to various types of attack.
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\end{enumerate}
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\section{Related work}
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% summaries of research papers on HSMs.
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% I have not found any actual prior art on anything involving mechanical motion beyond ultrasound.
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In chapter 18 of the forthcoming 3rd edition of his seminal book on "Security Engineering"\cite{anderson2020}, Ross
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Anderson gives a background on physical security in general and on HSMs in particular. As an example he cites the IBM
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4758 HSM whose details are laid out in depth in \cite{smith1998}. This HSM is an example of an industry-standard
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construction. Though it is now a bit dated, the construction techniques of the physical security mechanisms have not
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changed much in the last two decades. Apart from some auxiliary temperature and radiation sensors to guard against
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attacks on the built-in SRAM memory the module's main security barrier uses the traditional construction of a flexible
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mesh wrapped around the module's core. In \cite{smith1998}, the authors claim the module monitors this mesh for
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short circuits, open circuits and conductivity. The fundamental approach to tamper detection and construction is similar
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to other commercial offerings\cite{obermaier2018}.
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In \cite{immler2019}, Immler et al. describe a HSM based on precise capacitance measurements of a mesh. In contrast to
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traditional meshes, the mesh they use consists of a large number of individual traces (more than 32 in their example).
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Their concept promises a very high degree of protection. The main disadvantages of their concept are a limitation in
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both covered area and component height, as well as the high cost of the advanced analog circuitry required for
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monitoring. A core component of their design is that they propose its use as a PUF to allow for protection even when
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powered off, similar to a smart card--but the design is not limited to this use.
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In \cite{tobisch2020}, Tobisch et al.\ describe a construction technique for a hardware security module that is based
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around commodity Wifi hardware inside a conductive enclosure. In their design, an RF transmitter transmits a reference
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signal into the RF cavity formed by the conductive enclosure. One or more receivers listen for the signal's reflections
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and use them to characterize the RF cavity w.r.t.\ phase and frequency response. Their fundamental assumption is that
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the RF behavior of the cavity is inscrutable from the outside, and that even a small disturbance anywhere within the
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volume of the cavity will cause a significant change in its RF response. The core idea in \cite{tobisch2020} is to use
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commodity Wifi hardware to reduce the cost of the HSM's sensing circuitry. The resulting system is likely both much
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cheaper and capable of protecting a much larger security envelope than e.g. the design from \cite{immler2019}, at the
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cost of worse and less predictable security guarantees.
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While \cite{tobisch2020} approach the sensing frontend cost as their only optimization target, the prior work of Kreft
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and Adi\cite{kreft2012} considers sensing quality. Their target is an HSM that envelopes a volume barely larger than a
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single chip. They theorize how an array of distributed RF transceivers can measure the physical properties of a potting
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compound that has been loaded with RF-reflective grains. In their concept, the RF response characterized by these
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transceivers is shaped by the precise three-dimensional distribution of RF-reflective grains within the potting
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compound.
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\subsection{Comparison to prior research}
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Our concept is truly novel in that neither academic literature, nor patent databases contain any mention of mechanical
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motion being used as part of a hardware security module. Most academic research concentrates on the issue of creating
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new, more sensitive security barriers for HSMs while commercial vendors concentrate on means to cheaply manufacture
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these security barriers. Our concept instead focuses on the issue of taking any existing, cheap low-performance security
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barrier and transforming it into a marginally more expensive but very high-performance one. The closes to a mechanical
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HSM that we were able to find during our research is an 1988 patent\cite{rahman1988} that describes an mechanism to
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detect tampering along a communication cable by enclosing the cable inside a conduit filled with pressurized gas.
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\section{Intertial HSM construction and operation}
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\subsection{Using motion for tamper detection}
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Mechanical motion has been proposed as a means of making things harder to see with the human eye\cite{haines2006} but we
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seem to be the first to use it in tamper detection. Let us think about how one would go about increasing the security of
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a primitive tamper detection sensor.
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\begin{enumerate}
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\item We need the sensor's motion to be fairly fast. If any point of the sensor moves slow enough for a human to
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follow, it becomes a weak spot.
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\item We need the sensor's motion to be periodic to keep it within a reasonable space. Otherwise we could just load
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our HSM on an airplane and assume that airplanes are hard to stop non-destructively mid-flight.
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\item We need the sensor's motion to be very predictable so that we can detect an attacker trying to stop it.
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\end{enumerate}
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From this, we can make a few observations.
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\begin{enumerate}
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\item Linear motion is likely to be a poor choice since it requires a large amount of space, and it is comparatively
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easy to follow something moving linearly.
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\item Oscillatory motion such as linear vibration or a pendulum motion might be a good candidate, but for the
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instant at its apex when the vibration reverses direction the object is stationary, which is a weak spot.
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\item Rotation is a very good choice. Not only does it not require much space to execute, but also if the axis of
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rotation is within the HSM itself, an attacker trying to follow the motion would have to rotate around the same
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axis. Since their tangential linear velocity would rise linearly with the radius from the axis of rotation, an
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assumption on tolerable centrifugal force allows one to limit the approximate maximum size and mass of an
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attacker. For an HSM measuring at most a few tens of centimeters across, it is easy to build something that
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rotates too fast for a human to be able to follow it. The axis of rotation is a weak spot, but this can be
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alleviated by placing additional internal sensors around it and locating all sensitive parts of the sensing
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circuit radially away from it.
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\end{enumerate}
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Another important observation is that we do not have to move the entire contents of the HSM. It suffices if we can
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somehow move the tamper detection barrier around these contents while keeping the contents stationary. This reduces the
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inertial mass of the moving part and eases data communication and power supply of the payload.
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In a rotating reference frame, at any point the centrifugal force is proportional to the square of the angular frequency
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and linearly proportional to the distance from the axis of rotation. We can exploit this fact to create a sensor that
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detects any disturbance of the rotation by simply placing a linear accelerometer at some distance to the axis of
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rotation. During constant rotation, the linear acceleration tangential to the rotation will be zero. The centrifugal
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force is orthogonal to this, and will be constant as long as the angular velocity remains constant (assuming a fixed
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axis of rotation). At high angular velocities, considerable forces can be created this way. This poses the engineering
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challenge of preventing the whole thing from flying apart, but also creates an obstacle to any attacker trying to
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manipulate the sensor.
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\subsection{Payload mounting mechanisms}
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The simplest way to mount a stationary payload in a rotating security mesh is to drive the rotor through a
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hollow axis. This allows the payload to be mounted on a fixed rod threaded through the hollow axis, along with wires for
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power and data.
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\subsection{Rotating mesh power supply}
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There are several options to transfer power to the rotor from its stationary frame.
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\begin{enumerate}
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\item Slip ring contacts are a poor candidate as they are limited in their maximum speed and lifetime, and as
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precision mechanical components are expensive.
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\item Inductive power transfer as used in inductive charging systems can be used without modification.
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\item A second brushless motor on the axis of rotation can be used as a generator, with its axis connected to the
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fixed frame and its stator mounted and connected to the rotor.
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\item A bright LED along with some small solar cells may be a practical approach for small amounts of energy.
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\item For a very low-power security mesh, a battery specified to last for the lifetime of the device may be
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practical.
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\end{enumerate}
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\subsection{Rotating mesh data communication}
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As we discussed above, while slip rings are the obvious choice to couple electrical signals through a rotating joint,
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they are likely to be too expensive and have too short a life span for our application. Since the only information that
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needs to pass between payload and rotor are the occassional status report and a high-frequency heartbeat signal that
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acts as the alarm trigger, a simple optocoupler close to the axis of rotation is a good solution.
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\section{Future work}
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With this paper, we intend to spread the word on our idea. Thus, below we include a selection of the open questions we
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are currently working on. If you wish to tackle some of these, please feel free to contact the authors.
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\subsection{Other modes of movement}
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Though we decided to use rotation as an easy-to-implement yet secure option, other modes of movement bear promise as
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well. Particularly for less high-security applications without strict space constraints, a variant based on a pendulum
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motion may be worth investigating as it would simplify the mechanical construction. Power and data transfer to the
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moving part could simply be done with very flexible cables.
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\subsection{Multiple axes of rotation}
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One option to alleviate the weak spot a rotating mesh has at its axis of rotation, a system with two or more axes of
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rotation could be used. A single mesh would still suffice in this case, but when evaluating accelerometer readings, the
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braking detection algorithm would have to superimpose both.
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\subsection{Means of power transmission}
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Power transmission from payload to rotor is another point worth investigating. It may be possible to use some statically
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mounted permanent magnets with a coil integrated into the rotor's PCB as a low-power generator. While likely
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inefficient, this setup would be low-cost and would still suffice for the meager power requirements of the rotor's
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monitoring circuitry.
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\subsection{Payload cooling}
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An issue with existing HSM concepts is that the mesh has to fully envelope the payload, and thus traditional air cooling
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or heat pipes cannot be used. Existing systems rely on heat conduction through the mesh alone for cooling, severly
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limiting the maximum power dissipation of the payload. In our rotating HSM concept, the rotating mesh can have radial
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gaps in the mesh without impeding its function. This allows air to pass through the mesh during rotation, and a future
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evolution of the concept could even integrate a fan into the rotating component. This greatly increases the maximum
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possible power dissipation of the payload, allowing for much more powerful processing.
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\subsection{Other sensing modes}
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Since the security requirement the primary tamper-detection barrier needs to measure up to are much more lenient in the
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rotating HSM concept than in traditional HSMs, other coarse sensing modes besides low-tech meshes may be attractive. One
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possibility that would also eliminate the need of any active circuitry on the rotor would be to print the inside of the
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rotor with a pattern, then have a linear array of reflective optical sensors located close to the rotor along a
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longitudinal line. These sensors would observe the printed pattern passing by at high speed, and could compare their
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measurements against a model of the rotor. Tampering by drilling holes or slots would show up as adding an offset to
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part or all of the pattern. Likewise, the speed of rotation can be deducted directly from a sequence of measurements.
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\subsection{Longevity}
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A core issue with a mechanical HSM is component longevity. Save for dust and debris clogging up the system's mechanics
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the primary failure point are the bearings. A good partner for further development or even commercialization might be a
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manufacturer of industrial ducted fans as they are used e.g.\ in servers for cooling. Small industrial fans usually use
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BLDC motors and bearings specially optimized for longevity.
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\subsection{Transportation of an active device}
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A rotating mass responds to torque not co-linear with its axis of rotation with a gyroscopic precession force. In
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practice, this means that moving a device containing a spun-up rotating HSM on its inside might induce significant
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forces on both the HSM (posing the danger of false alarms) and on the carrier of the device (potentially making handling
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challenging). This effect would have to be taken into account in a real-world deployment, especially if the finished
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device is to be shipped by post or courier services after spin-up.
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\subsection{Hardware prototype}
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We are currently working on a hardware prototype that demonstrates the fundamental components of our concept. The
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prototype will be based on a security mesh made with a commercial printed circuit board manufacturing process. In our
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prototype we intend to use two commercially available hollow-shaft brushless DC (BLDC) motors originally intended for
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quadcopter-mounted camera gimbals, one for driving and one for power transfer. The prototype will have a usable internal
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volume sufficient to house a small form factor PC ($\approx\SI{2}{\liter}$).
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\section{Attacks}
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\subsection{Attacks on the mesh}
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There are two locations where one can attack a tamper-detection mesh. Either, the mesh itself can be tampered with. This
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includes bridging its traces to allow for a hole to be cut. The other option is to tamper with the monitoring circuit
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itself, to prevent a damaged mesh from triggering an alarm and causing the HSM to erase its contents. Attacks in both
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locations are electronic attacks, i.e. they require electrical contact to parts of the circuit. Traditionally, this
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contact is made by soldering, or by placing a probe such as a thin needle. Any kind of electrical contact that does not
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involve an electron or ion beam or a liquid requires mechanical contact. We consider none of these forms feasible to be
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performed on an object rotating at high speed without a complex setup that rotates along with the object. Thus, we
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consider them to be practically infeasible outside of a well-funded, special-purpose laboratory.
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\subsection{Attacks on the alarm circuitry}
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An electronic attack could also target the alarm circuitry inside the stationary payload, or the communication link
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between rotor and payload. The link can easily be proofed by using a cryptographically secured protocol along with a
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high-frequency heartbeat message. The alarm circuitry has to be designed such that it is entirely contained within the
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HSM's security envelope and has to tolerate environmental attacks such as through temperature, ionizing radiation,
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lasers, supply voltage variations, ultrasound or other vibration and gases or liquids. The easiest way to proof an alarm
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system against these is to employ adequate filtering of the incoming power supply and use sensors for the others,
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triggering an alarm in case extraordinary environmental variations are detected.
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\subsection{Fast and violent attacks}
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A variation of the above attacks on the alarm circuitry would be an attack that attempts to simply destroy this
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circuitry before the alarm can be acted upon. This type of attack might involve things such as a large hammer, or a gun.
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Mitigations for this type of attack include putting the entire payload and monitoring circuit in a mechanically robust
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enclosure and potting them, and linking all components of the alarm chain in such a way cryptographically and on a
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protocol level that the destruction of any of its parts leads to the secrets being destroyed before an attack would be
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able to probe them. An implication of this is that the electrical realization of the alarm signal up to its eventual
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destination cannot be a simple active-high or active-low line, since neither can be considered fail-safe in this
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scenario.
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\subsection{Attacks on the rotation sensor}
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An attacker trying to stop the rotor to tamper with the mesh may first try to deceive the rotation monitoring circuit
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such that it misses the rotor being stopped. In a realization based on a commercial MEMS accelerometer, this attack
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could take two forms: An electronic attack on the MEMS sensor, the monitoring microcontroller or the link in between,
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and a physical attack on the MEMS sensor itself. The former would be no easier than an electronic attack that attempts
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to bridge the mesh traces at the monitoring microcontroller. Thus, we consider it not to be practically feasible outside
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of a laboratory built especially for this purpose.
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There are several options for the latter attack. A recent paper %FIXME
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has shown that accelerometers respond to certain ultrasonic stimuli with bogus measurements. Since this primitive does
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not, however, yield accurate control over these bogus measurements, we deem it to be impractical for our scenario.
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Another possible attack scenario would be to somehow stop the rotating motion while subjecting the HSM to an external
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linear motion. Given the low error margins in the measurements of commercial accelerometers we consider this attack
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infeasible. A last type of attack might be to try to physically tamper with the accelerometer's sensing mechanism. MEMS
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accelerometers usually use a simple cantilever design, where a proof mass moves a cantilever whose precise position can
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be measured electronically. A possible way to attack such a device might be to first decapsulate it using laser ablation
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synchronized with the device's rotation. Then, a fast-setting glue such as a cyanoacrylate could be deposited on the
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moving MEMS parts in either liquid or gaseous form, locking them in place after hardening. This attack would require
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direct access to the accelerometer from the outside and can be prevented by mounting the accelerometer inside the
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security envelope. This attack only works if the rate of rotation is constant and is trivially detectable if the rate of
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rotation is set to change on a schedule.
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\section{Conclusion}
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In this paper, we have presented inertial hardware security modules, a novel concept for the construction of highly
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secure hardware security modules from inexpensive, commonly available parts. We have elaborated the engineering
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considerations underlying a practical implementation of this concept. We have analyzed the concept for its security
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properties and highlighted its ability to significantly strengthen otherwise weak tamper detection barriers. We have
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laid out some ideas for future research on the concept, and we will continue our own research on the topic.
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\printbibliography[heading=bibintoc]
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\appendix
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\section{Patents and licensing}
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During devlopment, we performed several hours of research on prior art for the inertial HSM concept. Yet, we could not
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find any mentions of similar concepts either in academic literature or in patents. Thus, we deem ourselves to be the
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inventors of this idea and we are fairly sure it is not covered by any patents or other restrictions at this point in
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time.
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Since the concept is primarily attractive for small-scale production and since cheaper mass-production alternatives are
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already commercially available, we have decided against applying for a patent and we wish to make it available to the
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general public without any restrictions on its use. This paper itself is licensed CC-BY-SA (see below). As for the
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inertial HSM concept, we invite you to use it as you wish and to base your own work on our publications without any fees
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or commercial restrictions. Where possible, we ask you to cite this paper and attribute the inertial HSM concept to its
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authors.
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\center{
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\center{\ccbysa}
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\center{This work is licensed under a Creative-Commons ``Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International'' license. The
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full text of the license can be found at:}
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\center{\url{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/}}
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\center{For alternative licensing options, source files, questions or comments please contact the authors.}
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\center{This is version \texttt{\input{version.tex}\unskip} generated on \today. The git repository can be found at:}
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\center{\url{https://git.jaseg.de/rotohsm.git}}
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}
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\end{document}
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