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For a nation state the most useful thing would be a "kill bit" where you can broadcast some signal or key and disable all your enemy's computers. That's fairly

by rwmj 2y ago

For a nation state the most useful thing would be a "kill bit" where you can broadcast some signal or key and disable all your enemy's computers. That's fairly easy to do in an FPGA - the signal would be detected by the serdes block(s) and the kill bit could just kill the power or clock or some other vital part of the chip.

glitchc 2y ago
No, it's the opposite. The FPGA makes it much harder to hide a trojan in the silicon. If the LUTs were biased, it would be detected fairly quickly. A dedicated circuit with an RF interface would be equally obvious in terms of chip usage and power draw.
- rwmj 2y ago
  I didn't say anything about modifying the LUTs or adding RF interfaces, I don't know where you got that from.
  - glitchc 2y ago
    How would the in-field FPGA receive the broadcast in your scenario?
greggsy 2y ago
Even better, a logical fuse that would make recovery impossibly expensive and timely.
8372049 2y ago
> For a nation state the most useful thing would be a "kill bit" where you can broadcast some signal or key and disable all your enemy's computers. CNE is generally considered to be far more valuable than CNA. First of all keep in mind that all genuinely sensitive systems are air gapped, so you can't effectively broadcast a signal to them. Second, CNA is a one-off; after the attack you will typically lose access. CNE access on the other hand can persist for years or even decades, and will be beneficial in both "cold" scenarios for political and economic maneuvers, and closer to a flashpoint. CNA, on the other hand, is usually only relevant when a conflict is turning hot.