Honored ContributorHi there,
I have a question about the Cyclone V security feature. As far as I know the security feature of Altera's FPGA's is used to protect the design of the FPGA from being copied or reverse engineered. Is it also possible to use the key for authentication of external devices? And how many keys can be stored in the Cyclone V?
Honored ContributorIf by external devices you mean other FPGAs, it will be more secure to have separate keys for each FPGA. Extra secure applications use a unique key for each FPGA in the field. If you are talking about storing keys for other things, the Altera FPGA only has room for its own key. You can store keys and anything else in on-chip ram or rom. It will be encrypted by the same method used for the FPGA (which isn't very secure).
Honored ContributorNo not only other FPGAs, but also other authentication devices like Atmels ATSHA204A or similar devices. So if I understand you right, there is space to secure store only one key in the FPGA. But If I need two authentications with different keys, then I have to take either another FPGA (which would be a bit overkilled) or a separate external authentication device, right? But it should not be a problem to use this key for generating a challenge & response authentication, is this correct?
Honored ContributorSorry for the delay in responding.
The secure storage in the FPGA is only for storage of the key used for the FPGA configuration. You can store keys for other devices within the configuration by declaring a ROM in your FPGA image. The amount available varies widely between FPGAs. Even the smallest should have room for several keys for external devices.
