Philips Intrinsic ID

Protecting your IP - intrinsically

 Intrinsic ID: secure from the start

Embedded software, or Intellectual Property (IP) as it is often known, is the lifeblood of the electronics industry. It provides the competitive edge for everything from mobile phones to professional routers. However, as the IP that makes products distinctive is very valuable, it is also very vulnerable to being copied.

Counterfeiting of physical goods is big business and so is the copying or ‘cloning’ of IP. This can happen through direct copying and re-use. Alternatively, IP vendors may provide IP for evaluation only to find it is used for much more. In addition, manufacturers may produce more physical goods containing IP than contractually agreed (known as overbuilding). In any case, the moment you license or sell your IP, it is at risk.

Moreover, as the need to get to market quickly constantly increases, innovative features are increasingly implemented through IP running on FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). This speeds design, but IP implemented on these chips is particularly susceptible to such ‘cloning attacks’.


A completely new solution

Our Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) technology provides protection against these attacks in a way that differs radically from existing techniques. It uses unique physical characteristics of the FPGA to ‘bind’ the IP to the hardware, so it will only run on the FPGA to which it is registered. Think of it as biometric security for embedded software.

Easy to implement, and requiring no additional hardware, it is an ideal solution for IP vendors and brands. Although especially valuable for protecting IP on FPGAs, the technology is equally applicable to ASICs and general purpose processors. Furthermore, it opens the way to strong security and exciting new business models throughout the IP value chain.


Secure by design

In the design environment, our security provides convenience and peace of mind for you as an IP supplier and for your customers. You supply the IP, Philips Intrinsic ID supplies an activation code and the designers can start work – it’s as easy as that.

Besides being intrinsically secure our technology can be integrated on any development board – and at any stage in the design process since no hardware changes are required. This brings another benefit, security at virtually no additional cost.


Secure in production

Our PUF technology is available to protect IP in design environments, enabling secure ‘try-before-you-buy’ business models. Yet it offers the advantages of intrinsic security throughout the value chain. The same technology is used to protect embedded IP in physical products through product authentication, eliminating the risk of cloning.

Each chip is registered on the production line, generating a unique activation code without which the IP will not run. Guaranteed 100% reporting allows brands to prevent overbuilding in a uniquely secure way.