Public Key Cryptography could help save chip piracy.

A group of researchers from two universities have proposed a way to prevent chip piracy. The technique uses public key cryptography to lock down circuitry.

In a whitepaper published this month, Jarrod A. Roy and Igor L. Markov (of the University of Michigan) and Farinaz Koushanfar (of Rice University) outline the problem and details of how their proposed technology will help solve the increasing piracy of chip designs.

Markov will present the group’s proposal at the Design Automation and Test in Europe conference, to be held in Germany on March 13, 2008.

It’s a very technical read, but still interesting to see the diversity that public key cryptography can be used for.