Vincent Cachard , Director of the Nanoelec/Pulse program and manager of the Hardware security research department at CEA-Leti © P. Jayet/CEA
With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), new services based on heterogeneous connected devices and data management are multiplying. At the same time, the dramatic increase in the number of cyber- attacks is raising awareness among the public and institutions about the risks associated with a too rapid and poorly controlled digital transition.
New hardware and software vulnerabilities are being identified and revealed to the general public at a time when medical devices, automobiles, industrial and urban equipment are becoming increasingly connected and autonomous. These vulnerabilities and the attacks that exploit them are undermining user trust in connected services and goods. Consequently, they have an impact on the image of businesses, but also on society’s economy and citizen privacy. They can even compromise the legal and social liability of public or private players who have inadequately protected their products.
In addition, when designing digital products, cybersecurity is often seen as a constraint which should not weigh too heavily on primary functions (health, mobility, manufacturing, etc.), whether in terms of cost,
performance, or ergonomics.
The challenge of the Nanoelec/PULSE program is thus to identify how electronic technologies can provide an adequate response to this new paradigm. It aims at developing new technologies that will allow the emergence of connected products and services that are capable of increasing security, protecting confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of digital data, guaranteeing protection of privacy, and simplifying the deployment of cybersecurity strategies. Our work focuses on three application fields: cybersecurity of industrial systems cybersecurity of healthcare products, and security of autonomous systems and self-driving cars.
In its own way, the Pulse program aims to meet the vital needs of institutions, solutions suppliers and users to live in a trusted digital world.
The work conducted in 2022 focused on the following:
• Integrated circuit micro-architectures that are intrinsically secure against attacks.
• Strong embedded systems ready for the quantum world challenges and enabling secure artificial intelligence.
• Secure, efficient, trusted and sustainable deployment schemes for objects.
These concepts have been applied to three application cases: industrial and manufacturing systems, home health and medical devices, and robotics.