Introduction

Hardware intellectual property (IP) is constantly being threatened of being pirated, tampered with, and otherwise violated worldwide in the modern semiconductor industry. Old-fashioned watermarking methods do not succeed in balancing a high level of robustness, stealth, and zero overhead. DNA watermarking is a revolutionary, bio-inspired technology that involves DNA fingerprint profiling to generate indefatigable digital watermarks.

Recent studies in Scientific Reports (Nature, 2024) also show how large watermarks can be produced with high-level synthesis (HLS) designs, and mimic DNA fragmentation, replication, and fusion processes in order to produce high-security watermarks without performance or design cost overhead.

What is DNA Watermarking?

This is a bio-mimicry method of DNA fingerprinting, and the concepts of this technology are extended to digital systems. Rather than installing some visible marks, it incorporates hidden, encrypted signatures into the hardware design process, so that the piracy detection and ownership verification process is highly accurate.

What is the mechanism of Bio-Mimicking DNA Watermarking?

• DNA Extraction & Sequencing - A distinctive DNA sequence (appointment of the vendor) is received.

• Fragmentation - DNA is broken into pieces with simulated restriction enzymes such as EcoRI or EcoRV.

• Replication & Fusion - Fragments are replicated, merged, or fused to create a unique profile.

• Encoding and Encryption- DNA bases (A, T, C, G) are coded and encrypted with the AES to provide the utmost security.

• Watermark Embedding - The encrypted signature is embedded during the register allocation step of HLS, with zero design overhead.

Compared to other, more traditional watermarking schemes, the scheme ensures that there is no increase in chip area, no latency, and no extra expense.

DNA Watermarking uses

• Hardware IP Protection - Offers a CNN accelerator and a JPEG processor, among other core designs.

• Anti-Piracy Defense - It is virtually impossible to counterfeit or steal chip designs.

• Traceability & Ownership Proof - Watermarks are indisputable proofs of ownership.

• Zero-Cost Security - Embedding occurs at a register allocation phase, thus not wasting hardware.

The benefits of DNA Watermarking

• High Tamper Tolerance (TT): Withstands brute force or watermark removal attacks (to 10368) strong signatures.

• Low Probability of Collision (Yi): virtually no risk of false hits.

• Performance Overhead: This has been implemented in HLS without affecting the chip size or speed.

• Underground and Strengthy: It is hard to follow and manage.

• No Performance Overhead: Implemented in HLS without impacting the chip size or speed.

• Underground and Strengthy: It is tough to track and control.

Difficulties and Reflections

• Enzyme selection, encoding rules, and encryption keys must be well monitored to recover the watermark.

• Any misplacement of the registers in the assignment of the watermark might be influenced.

• Bio-inspired watermarking should have more clarity in terms of the ethical and legal frameworks.

Conclusion

DNA watermarking, as a hardware-based security solution, combines synthetic biology concepts with the digital watermarking technique. It provides watermarks against IP piracy by emulating DNA fingerprint profiling to provide strong, tamper-resistant, and overhead-free watermarks. It is a bio-mimicking method, which can become a gold standard in the achievement of digital designs as the global chip supply chains get complex.

Author :- Harsh Dugar, in case of any query, contact us at Global Patent Filing or write back us via email at support@globalpatentfiling.com.

References

Sengupta, A., Bhui, N., Anshul, A., & Chourasia, V. (2024). Bio-mimicking DNA fingerprint profiling for HLS watermarking to counter hardware IP piracy. Scientific Reports (Nature).

FAQs on DNA Watermarking

Q1: How simple is DNA watermarking?

DNA watermarking is an approach based on the principle of DNA fingerprinting, which involves incorporating concealed and impervious biomarkers within hardware designs in order to deter piracy.

Q2: What is the difference between DNA watermarking and traditional watermarking?

DNA watermarking is more secure since it is overhead-free, stealthy, and is inspired by natural DNA mechanics, unlike traditional approaches, which incur overhead.

Q3: What are the applications of DNA watermarking?

It is primarily applied to hardware IP protection, such as CNN accelerators, image processing cores, and cryptography cores.

Q4: Does DNA watermarking have any impact on the chip performance? No, it adds no cost overhead, i.e., chip size and speed are not affected.