Two Main Challenges of Hardware Security
Hardware is the root of trust, where the security of all the layers above is anchored. The pervasive diffusion of electronic systems in every aspects of our lives posed new challenges to hardware designers. Among them, there is certainly the need of embed robust security primitives everywhere, also in devices with extremely limited area, energy and power budgets. This challenge is addressed by the so called lightweight cryptography. Ensure robust cryptography is not sufficient to guarantee security, since the security of robust devices can also be altered also during their production by adversaries that are able to insert hardware trojans. In this course, you will gain in depth knowledge about lightweight cryptography and hardware trojans.
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Learning objectives
After this masterclass, you:
- understand the methods to design lightweight cryptographic hardware accelerators and be able to apply them in real world examples
- understand the problem of hardware trojans and how it impacts the hardware supply chain
- have learned the state of the art in hardware trojan injection and detection techniques and will be able to apply them in real world
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Whom is this masterclass suitable for?
- Cryptography and security researchers that need to design cryptographic primitives in a lightweight fashion
- Designers, developers, or any users of the hardware supply chain that want to be familiar with current threats that exits in the electronic supply chain
- Hardware security enthusiasts
Knowledge about the principles of hardware design is required. Knowledge about Verilog or VHDL is useful, but not necessary to understand the principles and explanations.
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What makes this masterclass unique?
In this masterclass, you will learn about the basics of these subjects in a self-contained masterclass. Participants will benefit from our strong academic and industrial experience in the field of lightweight cryptography and hardware trojans.
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Lecturer: Dr. Francesco Regazzoni
Dr. Francesco Regazzoni received his Master of Science degree from Politecnico di Milano and his PhD degree from Università della Svizzera italiana. He held research positions at the Université Catholique de Louvain and at Technical University of Delft, and has been visiting researcher at several institutions, including NEC Labs America, Ruhr University of Bochum, and EPFL Lausanne and NTU Singapore.
His research interests are mainly focused on secure IoT devices and embedded systems, covering in particular design automation for security, physical attacks and countermeasures, post-quantum cryptography, and efficient implementation of cryptographic primitives.

Date: Will be announced as soon as possible
Mode of study: Onsite programme
Certificate: A Certificate of Attendance from the University of Amsterdam
Maximum number of participants: 20
Price: € 995,- (UvA alumni get a 10% discount. Fees are VAT-exempt)
Location: Lab42, Science Park 900, Amsterdam
Language: English
Study materials: Will be provided on the days of the masterclass.
Contact
Do you have questions about this masterclass?
Please contact Liza Lambert, Project Manager Lifelong Learning (Informatics Institute)
E: professionaleducation-ivi@uva.nl