Executive Summary
Frameworks for silicon root-of-trust verification and cryptographic lifecycle protection for national hardware assets.
Strategic Implications & Key Takeaways
- Unverified third-party IP cores in defence semiconductors represent covert backdoors.
- Zero-trust silicon verification must accompany procurement from wafer fabrication to packaging.
- National foundries and trusted packaging facilities are prerequisites for strategic autonomy.
Analysis & Assessment
Globalized semiconductor manufacturing creates pervasive opportunities for malicious hardware modification and counterfeit component insertion.
Protecting critical defence platforms requires rigorous physical inspection, side-channel verification, and cryptographically signed firmware roots of trust.
Institutions must develop trusted foundry consortia and standardized verification pipelines to ensure sovereign hardware integrity.
Institutional Actions
Contributing Author
National Resilience Group
Supply Chain & Hardware Security Desk