Secure-IC protects electronic circuits against physical attack

To hack into a telecommunications network, you need to find the security keys (series of numbers) used to encrypt messages, so that you can decode them. But even the most complex encryption algorithms cannot fully guarantee network security. By physically attacking the electronic circuits responsible for encryption during encryption operations, it is possible to extract these famous keys. In practice, all that's needed is to analyze dynamic power consumption or electromagnetic radiation, or to inject "faults", i.e. to force the circuit into a vulnerable state.

To combat these physical attacks, the Secure-IC spin-off has developed a wide range of intellectual property blocks or "IP cores" (electronic subassemblies whose reuse to manufacture new integrated circuits is protected by intellectual property rules), which enable embedded systems to be secured from one end of the network to the other, according to the security requirements of their customers. It also markets an advanced analysis platform, the " Smart-SIC Analyzer ", which can be used to test the security of any embedded system such as smart cards and integrated circuits. In civil security, these systems can be found in payment terminals, cell phones, bank cards, pay-TV boxes, passports and biometric ID cards, as well as in communication devices and networks in the transport, healthcare and energy sectors. In Defense, the start-up is targeting the security market for sensitive electronic circuits used in communication or data protection applications. The company also has an engineering and consulting business, to leverage its know-how in hardware design and embedded software.

The innovative technologies developed by Secure-IC stem from work carried out by the Comelec department at Télécom Paris, which specializes in the design and physical security of critical electronic components. Since 2003, researcher Jean-Luc Danger and his team, which includes Sylvain Guilley and Laurent Sauvage, the other co-founders of Secure-IC, have been developing security test methods for use by system designers. Above all, they have developed design methods for building components that are robust to physical attacks, including those exploiting "back channels" through which keys or other sensitive information could leak, and fault injection attacks. Over the past ten years, the researchers have filed ten patents. Secure-IC is currently exploiting five of these, as well as 4 proprietary software products developed by the research team. A second technology transfer contract is currently being negotiated.

At the 2014 Carnot Days, Jean-Luc Danger and his team were awarded the first FIEEC Applied Research prize for the work that led to the creation of Secure-IC. Today, the research team continues to cooperate with Secure-IC on several R&D projects. In 2013, Institut Mines-Télécom, Secure-IC and Doremi founded a joint laboratory, the Secure Compression Lab, to carry out partnership research into data compression and security. In addition, Secure-IC and Telecom-ParisTech are developing, under the aegis of the DGA, a processor that is secure against both physical and cyber-attacks.

The company

In 2003, Sylvain Guilley and Renaud Pacalet, soon joined by Jean-Luc Danger, Florent Flament and Laurent Sauvage, turned their attention to the protection of embedded electronic systems. Their research attracted the attention of Hassan Triqui and Philippe Nguyen, who together with Jean-Luc Danger, Sylvain Guilley and Laurent Sauvage founded Secure-IC in January 2010, a dual SME based in Rennes and Paris, co-incubated with Télécom Paris and Télécom Bretagne. In 2010, they were winners of Réseau Entreprendre Bretagne, then of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research's national competition for innovative technology start-ups, in the "Creation and Development" category. In 2012, Secure-IC won the "Start-up of the Year" prize awarded by ElectroniqueS magazine, at the 15th edition of the Électrons d'Or awards. In 2013, Secure-IC won a prestigious SÉSAMES award for its Analyzer. Since then, the start-up has opened offices in Singapore and Silicon Valley, in San Francisco. It offers its services to manufacturers of cards, electronic components and telephones, as well as to the Direction Générale de l'Armement. Today, Secure-IC employs a staff of around 30 and is enjoying significant growth in sales.