VE-HEP

The goal of the “Hardening the Value Chain through Open-Source, Trusted EDA Tools and Processors (VE-HEP)” is to implement, for the first time, key parts of the entire value chain for the development and manufacturing of security-critical chips (hardware security modules) using open source.

This applies both to hardware development and to the implementation of hardening mechanisms—that is, protection against attacks. Furthermore, vulnerabilities in the hardware value chain are analyzed and disclosed. Specifically, the goal is to develop a RISC-V processor protected against physical attacks. The hardware-accelerated execution of cryptographic operations is considered as a use case for evaluating the developed solution. For the first time, hardening measures against side-channel attacks are to be automated in open-source software for microelectronics design—a so-called Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool. The researchers will choose open-source solutions and approaches to enable the verifiability of the developed hardware. This will achieve fully transparent certifiability. The project will culminate in a demonstrator that showcases the results in the context of industrial practice.

If processors and cryptographic accelerators are open-source, this facilitates market entry for small and medium-sized enterprises. This diversifies value chains and supply chains, which in turn reduces dependencies and, in the long term, strengthens the competitiveness and innovative capacity of German and European industry. In particular, the VE-HEP project also promotes the expansion of expertise and value creation in the field of IT hardware, especially regarding microprocessors for the automotive industry and for devices in the Internet of Things (IoT). The project’s results will help ensure that safety-critical hardware designs and formally verified hardening measures are easier to implement in the future. An Industrial Liaison Group, established by the project partners, analyzes, monitors, and guides the ongoing industry-oriented development of the results obtained in the project and develops the legal framework and a sustainable partnership.