Live Demonstration: Securing Wireless ICs Against Supply Chain Attacks Using SyncLock

The globalization of the Integrated Circuit (IC) supply chain has given rise to several hardware security and trust threats. Especially, IC piracy and counterfeiting are significant preoccupations for designers. This demonstration shows how to secure a wireless IC against such threats. The case study is an open-source IEEE 802.11 WiFi modem implemented on hardware using a Software Defined Radio (SDR) bladeRF board. The modem is secured with synchronization-based locking (SyncLock), a state-of-the-art locking scheme for RF transceivers. SyncLock disables the wireless communication between the modem and a WiFi-compliant receiver unless the correct secret key is loaded onto the modem.