NoC Security through Encryption: Mitigating Threats from Compromised Networks

Network on chip NoC is a communication architecture that uses on-chip communication protocols and infrastructure to connect various components within a system on chip SoC . NoC has replaced the traditional bus-based communication architecture with a network-based approach. It typically consists of routers and links that connect processing cores, memory blocks, and other IP blocks within the chip. The high scalability of NoC allows for the integration of many processing components or IP cores on a single chip. The increase in SoC complexity has led to an increase in IP utilization from third-party suppliers. Attack NoC by implanting hardware trojans HT into the IP from an unreliable third-party IP provider. Since it is directly related to various aspects of the chip, it will become a prime target for data leakage and other security attacks. To enhance the anonymity of critical security in-formation in the NoC, we considered packet encryption and routing methods that explore path diversity. We designed and implemented a new NoC archi-tecture and proposed the use of the Ascon encryption algorithm and secure anonymous routing for safeguarding secure packets. Secondly, we also con-ducted experimental evaluations of the improved NoC architecture using the gem5 simulation tool. Through these evaluations, we verified the perfor-mance of the architecture under different traffic patterns. The results demonstrate that while ensuring low network latency, it can effectively pre-vent packets from being maliciously redirected and reduce the average hop count increased by hardware Trojan attacks.