
(a) At monolayer thickness, this material has the optical properties of a semiconductor that emits light. At multilayer, the properties change and the material doesn’t emit light. (b) Varying the thickness of each layer results in a thin film speckled with randomly occurring regions that alternately emit or block light. (c) Upon exposure to light, this pattern can be translated into a one-of-a-kind authentication key that could secure hardware components at minimal cost.
NYU Tandon Researchers Discover Big Cryptographic Potential in Nanomaterial
The next generation of electronic hardware security may be at hand as researchers at New York University Tandon School of Engineering introduce a new class of unclonable cybersecurity security primitives made of a low-cost nanomaterial with the highest possible level of structural randomness. Randomness is highly desirable for constructing the security primitives that encrypt and thereby secure computer hardware and data physically, rather than by programming.
In a paper published in the journal ACS Nano, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Davood Shahrjerdi and his NYU Tandon team offer the first proof of complete spatial randomness in atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The researchers grew the nanomaterial in layers, each roughly one million times thinner than a human hair. By varying the thickness of each layer, Shahrjerdi explained, they tuned the size and type of energy band structure, which in turn affects the properties of the material.
“At monolayer thickness, this material has the optical properties of a semiconductor that emits light, but at multilayer, the properties change, and the material no longer emits light. This property is unique to this material,” he said. By tuning the material growth process, the resulting thin film is speckled with randomly occurring regions that alternately emit or do not emit light. When exposed to light, this pattern translates into a one-of-a-kind authentication key that could secure hardware components at minimal cost.
Shahrjerdi said his team was pondering potential applications for what he described as the beautiful random light patterns of MoS2 when he realized it would be highly valuable as a cryptographic primitive.
This represents the first physically unclonable security primitive created using this nanomaterial. Typically embedded in integrated circuits, physically unclonable security primitives protect or authenticate hardware or digital information. They interact with a stimulus — in this case, light — to produce a unique response that can serve as a cryptographic key or means of authentication.
The research team envisions a future in which similar nanomaterial-based security primitives can be inexpensively produced at scale and applied to a chip or other hardware component, much like a postage stamp to a letter. “No metal contacts are required, and production could take place independently of the chip fabrication process,” Shahrjerdi said. “It’s maximum security with minimal investment.”
Learn more: THE ULTIMATE DEFENSE AGAINST HACKERS MAY BE JUST A FEW ATOMS THICK
The Latest on: Cybersecurity
[google_news title=”” keyword=”cybersecurity” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
- Rich families skimp when it comes to cybersecurity, and it can cost them millionson April 1, 2023 at 5:15 am
Family offices and rich clients are ripe hacking targets. Risks abound with Gen Z heirs Instagramming yachts and employees writing passwords on paper.
- Cybersecurity experts argue that pausing GPT-4 development is pointlesson March 31, 2023 at 10:33 pm
Cybersecurity experts argue the open letter calling for a pause on GPT-4 and LLM development will do little to address cyberthreats.
- Cybersecurity is a myth: What your business needs to knowon March 31, 2023 at 10:00 pm
By embracing an innovative business approach, you can effortlessly dissolve 90% of your cybersecurity worries.
- Why cybersecurity is a mython March 31, 2023 at 10:00 pm
The answer is simple: cybersecurity does exist, but it is a myth that we can ever actually be “secure.” While the products and services available to us do indeed help raise our level of security, they ...
- Cybersecurity a key theme for chief supply chain officerson March 31, 2023 at 7:41 pm
By 2025, 60% of supply chain organizations will use cybersecurity risk as a significant determinant in conducting third-party transactions and business engagements, according to Gartner, Inc. As the ...
- Working in cybersecurity and zero trust with Ericom Software’s David Canelloson March 31, 2023 at 4:50 pm
David Canellos, president and CEO of Ericom Software, shares insights into helming a leading cybersecurity provider.
- The FDA's Medical Device Cybersecurity Overhaul Has Real Teeth, Experts Sayon March 31, 2023 at 2:32 pm
The physical and cyber safety issues surrounding medical devices like IV pumps is finally being meaningfully addressed by a new policy taking effect this week.
- China Opens Cybersecurity Probe of Micron Amid Competition With U.S. Over Technologyon March 31, 2023 at 12:34 pm
The move is likely to put global firms operating in China further on edge at a time of escalating tension between Beijing and Washington.
- The Global Cyber Innovation Summit, the CISO "Invitation-only" Event, Returns in 2023 to Set the Global Agenda for Cybersecurityon March 31, 2023 at 9:49 am
The Global Cyber Innovation Summit (GCIS), renowned as the “Davos of Cybersecurity,” returned this year to bring together a preeminent group of leadin ...
- BlackBerry stock dips after earnings show issues in cybersecurity businesson March 30, 2023 at 8:13 pm
MARKET PULSE BlackBerry Ltd. shares declined in after-hours trading Thursday after the company released preliminary fourth-quarter numbers that came up short amid troubles closing ...
via Google News and Bing News