A State-of-the-Art Reverse Engineering Approach for Combating Hardware Security Vulnerabilities at the System and PCB Level in IoT Devices

Abstract

In this paper, we have presented a systematic hardware reverse engineering (HRE) approach for IoT -based electronic devices. The objective of the developed HRE approach is to understand and test various hardware security vulnerabilities associated with IoT devices while working back through interconnecting the components and creating the main schematics. The paper has brought up state-of-art knowledge, tools, and techniques used for testing hardware security vulnerabilities at the system-level and printed circuit board (PCB)-level reverse engineering. Besides the known hardware security testing techniques e.g., side-channel attacks and faults injections, this paper has introduced a unique approach that includes documentation, initial screening, functional test, battery management system, tamper resistance (PCB and system level), and PCB reverse engineering with best practices. Even though this paper mainly covers non-invasive attacks at the system and PCB level, the HRE approach presented will be very helpful to IoT device manufacturers, testing labs, and researchers for setting up testing and research labs on hardware reverse engineering and developing competency through education, training, and capacity-building programs.