New IOT Security Features

As more susceptible devices are out there, they need to be better protected.

Rice U. Researchers Unveil IoT Security Feature
Rice University  By Jade Boyd

Researchers at Rice University have developed physically unclonable function (PUF) technology, which is 10 times more reliable than current methods of producing unclonable digital fingerprints for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. PUF uses a microchip's physical imperfections to produce unique security keys that can be used to authenticate devices linked to the IoT. The system generates two unique fingerprints for each PUF, known as the "zero-overhead" method. This method uses the same PUF components to make both keys and does not require extra area and latency because of a design feature that also allows the PUF to be about 15 times more energy-efficient than previously developed versions. Said Rice University researcher Kaiyuan Yang, "In our design, the PUF module is always on, but it takes very little power, even less than a conventional system in sleep mode."