Reconfigurable computing in hardware security. A brief review and application

Abstract

The first part of this paper is a brief review of reconfigurable computing in hardware security and focuses on devices designed with Field-Programmable Gate Arrays technology. The study is focused on reconfigurable computing with FPGAs versus ASICs, hardware security of FPGAs, and how all these are applied to hardware security devices under usual attacks. The second part presents the design of an application proposed to secure sensitive data and information. In comparison with other proposals, the main advantages and features of this application are: highly protected data on the SD card compared with software solutions because the device is designed only with hardware elements, transferring data speed is limited only by SD card specifications, and unique encrypt/decrypt PIN code restricts other users access to non-belonging files. The experimental results confirm the design considering the features mentioned.