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PawelMa's avatar
PawelMa
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2 years ago
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Erasing a Volatile Key from Arria-10 GX

Hello! In one of our designs, we use the bitstream encryption feature in Arria-10 GX FPGA. We'd like to implement a kill switch (triggered by externally detected tampering). Is it possible to erase...
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Fpga Devkit
Programmable Logic Device
  • PawelMa's avatar
    PawelMa
    2 years ago

    Yes, that was my original question and the goal.

    Ad 1. I've recently received some info on this subject from one of the FAE's, that's very much under NDA, regarding the use of the internal JTAG in the discussed topic. I hope I won't violate the NDA by saying this: It's not impossible.

    Ad 2. That's a very good point. Removing the VCCBAT indeed causes the POR and needs to be extended by external logic, i.e. a monoflip. Having an external security controller, it's easy to implement.

    That solves my question. Thank You a lot!

    Pawel

NurAiman_M_Intel's avatar
NurAiman_M_Intel
Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
2 years ago

Hi,


I am confirming this with our internal team.


Can I know if you enable Tamper-Protection bit? And do you intended to reprogram the volatile key?


Regards,

Aiman


  • PawelMa's avatar
    PawelMa
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    2 years ago

    Hi,

    No, we did not enable the Tamper-Protection bit. I used the word "tamper" for the mechanical tampering with the device's enclosure.

    In our case, it will be sufficient to erase the volatile key.

    If it couldn't be done without programming a new one, we can do the full reprogramming cycle.

    Regards,

    Pawel

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