REVERSIM: An Open-Source Environment for the Controlled Study of Human Aspects in Hardware Reverse Engineering

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Becker, Steffen, Walendy, René, Weber, Markus, Wiesen, Carina, Rummel, Nikol, Paar, Christof
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Becker, Steffen
Walendy, René
Weber, Markus
Wiesen, Carina
Rummel, Nikol
Paar, Christof
author_facet Becker, Steffen
Walendy, René
Weber, Markus
Wiesen, Carina
Rummel, Nikol
Paar, Christof
contents Hardware Reverse Engineering (HRE) is a technique for analyzing integrated circuits. Experts employ HRE for security-critical tasks, like detecting Trojans or intellectual property violations, relying not only on their experience and customized tools but also on their cognitive abilities. In this work, we introduce ReverSim, a software environment that models key HRE subprocesses and integrates standardized cognitive tests. ReverSim enables quantitative studies with easier-to-recruit non-experts to uncover cognitive factors relevant to HRE. We empirically evaluated ReverSim in three studies. Semi-structured interviews with 14 HRE professionals confirmed its comparability to real-world HRE processes. Two online user studies with 170 novices and intermediates revealed effective differentiation of participant performance across a spectrum of difficulties, and correlations between participants' cognitive processing speed and task performance. ReverSim is available as open-source software, providing a robust platform for controlled experiments to assess cognitive processes in HRE, potentially opening new avenues for hardware protection.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_05740
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle REVERSIM: An Open-Source Environment for the Controlled Study of Human Aspects in Hardware Reverse Engineering
Becker, Steffen
Walendy, René
Weber, Markus
Wiesen, Carina
Rummel, Nikol
Paar, Christof
Cryptography and Security
Human-Computer Interaction
Hardware Reverse Engineering (HRE) is a technique for analyzing integrated circuits. Experts employ HRE for security-critical tasks, like detecting Trojans or intellectual property violations, relying not only on their experience and customized tools but also on their cognitive abilities. In this work, we introduce ReverSim, a software environment that models key HRE subprocesses and integrates standardized cognitive tests. ReverSim enables quantitative studies with easier-to-recruit non-experts to uncover cognitive factors relevant to HRE. We empirically evaluated ReverSim in three studies. Semi-structured interviews with 14 HRE professionals confirmed its comparability to real-world HRE processes. Two online user studies with 170 novices and intermediates revealed effective differentiation of participant performance across a spectrum of difficulties, and correlations between participants' cognitive processing speed and task performance. ReverSim is available as open-source software, providing a robust platform for controlled experiments to assess cognitive processes in HRE, potentially opening new avenues for hardware protection.
title REVERSIM: An Open-Source Environment for the Controlled Study of Human Aspects in Hardware Reverse Engineering
topic Cryptography and Security
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05740