Spies, military looking for hacker-, backdoor-proof circuits

[DainBramaged]

In 2010, the US military had a problem. It had bought over 59,000 microchips destined for installation in everything from missile defense systems to gadgets that tell friend from foe. The chips turned out to be counterfeits from China, but it could have been even worse. Instead of crappy Chinese fakes being put into Navy weapons systems, the chips could have been hacked, able to shut off a missile in the event of war or lie around just waiting to malfunction.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the spy community’s way-out research arm, is looking to avoid a repeat. The Trusted Integrated Circuit program is IARPA's attempt to keep foreign adversaries from messing with our chips—and check the circuits for backdoors once they’ve been made.

The US has been worried about its foreign-sourced chips in its supply chain for a while now. In a 2005 report, the Defense Science Board warned that the shift towards greater foreign circuit production posed the risk that “trojan horse” circuits could be unknowingly installed in critical military systems. Foreign adversaries could modify chips to fizzle out early, the report said, or add secret back doors that would place a kill switch in military systems.

The problem is that the United States isn’t the only game in town anymore when it comes to building better chips. Foreign chip foundries—companies that manufacture chips for third parties—are churning out more advanced products and making regular chips cheaper and more quickly. American military and intelligence customers would love to take advantage of some of these developments, but they don’t want to limit themselves to just US-made technology.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/spies-military-looking-for-hacker--backdoor-proof-circuits.ars

[TygrBright]

1. They're just getting around to this NOW???

I feel so farking safe, really I do.

ironically,
Bright

[drm604]

2. This is what happens when you lose your industrial base.

The Republicans claim to be big on defense but it takes a backseat to free trade. :banghead:

[DainBramaged]

3. Exactly the point. Cheap labor, bad chips....

[gratuitous]

4. Quality costs money, and we ain't got none

When dimwit Sen. Rand Paul can ask, with a straight face, how a $2 billion expenditure on senior health can amount to a savings or a spending cut, you're dealing with a country and a government that carefully tracks the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Yes, $2 billion spend on health care seems like a big expenditure. But without it, you may be looking at costs five, ten or a hundred times that much, as preventable conditions are left untreated until they become big, expensive, desperate battles against looming death.

You can also neglect to buy gas for your car. A savings of nearly $50! Whoo hoo! Until, of course, you run out of gas. Then there's the tow truck ($200), the cost of gassing up the car anyway (so long $50 "savings"), and maybe a little repair bill because of damage to the fuel system from running it dry ($600 or more).

But think of all the money we saved by buying computer chips on the cheap from our good friends and trade partners in China.