Random Active Shield

Abstract

Recently, some active shielding techniques have been broken (e.g. by FlyLogic). The caveat is that their geometry is easy to guess, and thus they can be bypassed with an affordable price. This paper has two contributions. First of all, it provides a definition of the objectives of shielding, which is seldom found in publicly available sources. Notably, we precise the expected functionality, but also the constraints it must meet to be both manufacturable and secure. Second, we propose an innovative solution based on random shielding. The goal of this shielding is to make the geometry of the shield difficult to recognize, thereby making the "identification" phase of the attack harder than in previous schemes. Also, a proof of the shielding existence for two layers of metal is provided, which guarantees that the generation of the layout will succeed. Finally, we provide real tests of the shield generation algorithm, that show it is computationally tractable even for large areas to protect.