FPGA_HSM

Author: Neil Chulani

Contact: neil22@me.com

FPGA Implementation of a Hardware Security Module

The goal of this project is to write implement an HSM from scratch on an FPGA. The HSM will (hopefully) be able to perform on device encryption/decryption, as well as firmware signing and image verification. A simple RTOS will be run on an MCU, which will connect to the HSM and use it for all cryptographic operations.

Features

• FPGA HSM stores all cryptographic keys
• FPGA HSM can perform AES-256 Encryption and Decryption
• FPGA HSM can perform image signing and verification using SHA-256
• MCU runs a RTOS that interacts with the FPGA HSM to perform secure boot and other cryptographic processes

This implementation is being devleoped using a Kintex 7 KC705 Development board, and is still very much a work in progress. I am hoping to eventually design and manufacture an ASIC HSM based on the FPGA implementation, but that will be a little while in the future.

Progress So Far

• Working implementation of AES-256 encryption and decryption, performed combinationally (requires a single clock cycle)
• Testbenches written for encryption and decryption modules

Currently Working On

• SHA-256 implementation

TODO

• Understand how to create image signing and verification using SHA-256
• Implement secure bootloader and a simple RTOS on MCU
• Design communication protocol to be used between MCU and FPGA-HSM (SPI, IIC, etc?)