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Neuromorphic Security

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Emerging Topics in Hardware Security

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Abstract

Heretofore, CMOS devices, circuits and architectures, experienced an accelerated technological evolution, with hardware security policies struggling to catch up to these advances. Hence, time and again, traditional computing platforms have fallen prey to security threats. With neuromorphic computing, the amalgamation of novel non-Von Neumann architectures, new post-CMOS nano-ionic devices, and an innovative software stack truly marks the beginning of a new era in computing system design. On the flip side, the simultaneous introduction of (1) unorthodox architectures, (2) circuits designed using novel devices, and (3) devices fabricated from unfamiliar materials, into a potentially flawed and untrustworthy system-on-chip (SoC) design space, can stir up a hornet’s nest of security threats.

With neuromorphic hardware expected to form the backbone of life-critical systems in healthcare, military and automotive industries, the potential ramifications of security vulnerabilities arising from following the same precedent of evolution as CMOS based architectures can prove catastrophic. Uncovering security vulnerabilities in the emerging neuromorphic computing paradigm, and understanding the impact of security on system characteristics will be instrumental in shaping our design practices. In this chapter, we examine security concerns in emerging neuromorphic systems with emphasis on vulnerabilities arising from devices, circuits, architectures and supporting sub-systems.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation grants (CNS-1117425, CAREER-1253024, CCF-1318826, CNS-1421022, CNS-1421068). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

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  1. AMD, Santa Clara, CA, USA

    Rajesh J. S.

  2. Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Koushik Chakraborty & Sanghamitra Roy

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Correspondence to Koushik Chakraborty .

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  1. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Mark Tehranipoor

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J. S., R., Chakraborty, K., Roy, S. (2021). Neuromorphic Security. In: Tehranipoor, M. (eds) Emerging Topics in Hardware Security . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64448-2_10

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