Skip to main content
Till KTH:s startsida

IL1333 Hardware Security 7.5 credits

Administer About course

This course in Hardware Security equips you with the cutting-edge skills to protect electronic systems from sophisticated physical and side-channel attacks while balancing performance and cost considerations. In an increasingly connected world, the security of hardware systems is paramount. The need for robust, tamper-resistant solutions, from smart cards to RFID tags and IoT devices, is critical.

Information per course offering

Choose semester and course offering to see current information and more about the course, such as course syllabus, study period, and application information.

Termin

Course syllabus as PDF

Please note: all information from the Course syllabus is available on this page in an accessible format.

Course syllabus IL1333 (Spring 2024–)
Headings with content from the Course syllabus IL1333 (Spring 2024–) are denoted with an asterisk ( )

Content and learning outcomes

Course contents

  • Physical attacks and "tamper resistance" 
  • Side-channel attacks and countermeasures
  • Introduction to lightweight cryptography
  • Security for smart card and radio frequency identification tags (RFID-tags)
  • Design for physical unclonable functions (PUFs) and true random number generators
  • Personal integrity in the Internet-of-Things era

Intended learning outcomes

Having passed the course, the student shall be able to

  • describe state-of-the-art hardware security techniques and justify their applications and limitations
  • describe how the safety is guaranteed in an illustrating application
  • describe the threats against a system from hardware perspective and available countermeasures and apply the knowledge to choose an appropriate set of countermeasures for a certain threat assessment.
  • analyse and make a critical balance between the performance, cost and safety of the system and illustrate compromises that are available for design engineers of electronic and embedded systems
  • explain the need of hardware security primitives and justify advantages and disadvantages with the different primitives and choose an appropriate primitive for a specific application
  • use the knowledge to build a small electronic or embedded system for increased safety and explain how the safety is guaranteed in the system.

Literature and preparations

Specific prerequisites

Knowledge in digital design, 6 credits, corresponding to completed course IE1204/IE1205.

Course from Upper Secondary School equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English B/6.

Recommended prerequisites

No information inserted

Equipment

No information inserted

Literature

No information inserted

Examination and completion

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

Grading scale

A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Examination

  • LABA - Laboratory work, 2.5 credits, grading scale: P, F
  • PROA - Project, 1.0 credits, grading scale: P, F
  • TENA - Written exam, 4.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Opportunity to complete the requirements via supplementary examination

No information inserted

Opportunity to raise an approved grade via renewed examination

No information inserted

Examiner

Profile picture Elena Dubrova

Ethical approach

  • All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
  • In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
  • In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

Further information

Course room in Canvas

Registered students find further information about the implementation of the course in the course room in Canvas. A link to the course room can be found under the tab Studies in the Personal menu at the start of the course.

Offered by

EECS/Electrical Engineering

Main field of study

Technology

Education cycle

First cycle

Add-on studies

No information inserted

Contact

Elena Dubrova

Transitional regulations

Students who have taken but not completed the course are offered to complete those missing course components.

Supplementary information

In this course, the EECS code of honor applies, see: http://www.kth.se/en/eecs/utbildning/hederskodex.