Hardware Security Solutions for Internet of Things Based on Inherent Device Randomness: From Primitives to System Engineering
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This topic entails a comprehensive investigation into security solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) that leverage the unique and unpredictable physical properties of hardware devices. More specifically, in the framework of this topic, it is first analyzed how the intrinsic physical variations of hardware components, such as minor manufacturing imperfections and electrical noise, can be harnessed to develop novel lightweight security primitives, including Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and True Random Number Generators (TRNGs), as well as more advanced mechanisms based on the behaviour of chaotic circuits. Subsequently, the ability of these security mechanisms to enable secure device identification and authentication, key generation, and cryptographic operations is evaluated. A key aspect of this evaluation is assessing their ability to function without relying on stored secrets or additional hardware components, making them particularly suitable for resource-constrained and widely distributed IoT segments. To determine the practical viability of integrating these fundamental security mechanisms into system-level engineering, their reliability under varying environmental conditions, their resistance to potential attacks, and effective strategies for addressing their inherent error characteristics, are also examined. Ultimately, the goal is to explore how scalable, efficient, and robust security can be established for IoT systems and networks by exploiting the innate randomness of modern hardware.