Re: NSA back doors in encryption products

[David Honig]

At 05:54 AM 5/27/00 +0100, Ben Laurie wrote:
>David Honig wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Yes but *once* you've verified the RTL (and from them the masks)
>> you don't have to worry about some stray applet hosing your security.
>> You do with software.
>
>Errr ... you do with an FPGA, surely?

Yep.  By definition, reprogrammable logic is mutable, succeptible
to code changes.

But very accessable vs. an ASIC.

A secure 'closed' PDA that used an FPGA would put its config in
a write-once memory and make it tamper-resistant.  The tamper-resistant
packaging is only to protect it from others while you shower or
sleep, not from you tinkering with it.

Simply prohibiting over-the-air upgrades in the architecture 
is a good start.