On October 31st, 2011, Michael Cooney wrote for NetworkWorld on how the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is looking to fund the development of a new process that will produce secure computer chips. The process, called Trusted Integrated Chips (TIC), takes advantage of the world's semiconductor manufacturing capacity but ensures that US security and intellectual property protections are still integrated. TIC accomplishes this by splitting the manufacturing process; fabrication of new chips (so called Front-End-of-Line manufacturing) is accomplished overseas, but US property protections are integrated into the chips by trusted US facilities (the so called Back-End-of-Line development).
The article notes that this approach does not disclose the design intention to the overseas manufacturers, thereby protecting the intellectual property of the designer. Alternatively, TIC allows for the partial creation of any chip, again ensuring that a complete and secure circuit system can only be manufactured in the US. IARPA stated that "It is desirable for the US academic community and the US industrial base to have open and assured access to obtain the highest performance integrated circuits and systems-on-chips while ensuring that components have been securely fabricated according to design and that intellectual property is protected.
This news is significant in light of concerns that overseas manufacturers might compromise computer equipment produced overseas by integrating back doors that are later used to infiltrate US computer networks.
The source article can be found here.
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