DARPA wants to scrub scourge of counterfeit computer gear

http://m.networkworld.com/community/node/84878

ew things can mess up a highly technical system and threaten lives like a counterfeit electronic component, yet the use of such bogus gear is said to be widespread.
A new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program will target these phony products and develop a tool to "verify, without disrupting or harming the system, the trustworthiness of a protected electronic component."
+More on Network World: Old electronics don't die, they pile up+
DARPA said in March it will detail a program called Supply Chain Hardware Integrity for Electronics Defense (SHIELD) that will develop a small (100 micron x 100 micron) component, or dielet, that authenticates the provenance of electronics components. Proposed dielets should contain a full encryption engine, sensors to detect tampering and would readily affix to today's electronic components such as microchips, the agency said.
DARPA said it eversions this dielet will be inserted into the electronic component's package at the manufacturing site or affixed to existing trusted components, without any alteration of the host component's design or reliability. There is no electrical connection between the dielet and the host component. Authenticity testing could be done anywhere with a handheld probe or with an automated one for larger volumes. Probes need to be close to the dielet for scanning. After a scan, an inexpensive appliance (perhaps a smartphone) uploads a serial number to a central, industry-owned server. The server sends an unencrypted challenge to the dielet, which sends back an encrypted answer and data from passive sensors-like light exposure-that could indicate tampering, DARP said.
"SHIELD demands a tool that costs less than a penny per unit, yet makes counterfeiting too expensive and technically difficult to do," said Kerry Bernstein, DARPA program manager. "The dielet will be designed to be robust in operation, yet fragile in the face of tampering. What SHIELD is seeking is a very advanced piece of hardware that will offer an on-demand authentication method never before available to the supply chain."
The idea behind SHIELD will be to develop what DARPA calls a "hardware root‐of‐trust" comprising full onboard encryption, intrusion sensors, wireless communication and power, and hardened cipher key storage.
Technical areas DARPA says the program will look to develop include a new on‐chip hardware‐root‐of‐ trust secret key containers,  passive sensors that detect potential compromises,  ID chip self‐ destruct mechanisms to counter attempted reverse engineering, new manufacturing process technologies to fabricate, personalize, and place these devices, the integration and design of the small ID chips comprising these features.

In the end, DARPA says a system that can successfully protect key core systems would be:
- Extremely low cost, with minimal impact to the component manufacturer, distributor, or end‐ user, as well as to the host component itself;
- Effective at mitigating most supply chain security threats;
- Be simple, very fast, and executable by untrained operators;
- Trustworthy, reliable, and prohibitively difficult to spoof;
- Executable at any place and at any time along the supply chain, providing instant results on‐site;
- Performed using a minimum of specialized, inexpensive interrogation equipment;
- Standardized and widely adoptable by government and industry;
- Manufacturable in high volume using standard foundry processes; and
- A value‐add to the end‐product, recognized and requested by the component consumer.

Chips Sales Top a Trillion in 2016

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1321045&

Global semiconductor unit shipments, including integrated circuits and optical, sensor, and discrete (OSD) devices are slated to break the 1 trillion mark in 2016, according to a new report. The news comes as semiconductor unit growth is expected to increase to about 8% this year, according to a February 18 report by IC Insights. In 2015, shipments are projected to grow 11% and then 12% in 2016, pushing the industry past the 1 trillion mark for the first time.

After 2016, shipments of a trillion or more chips is expected to become the norm. The forecast is based on data published in the 2014 edition of “The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry.” While the sheer number of semiconductor shipments is impressive, the report also takes the long view of the past four decades to show how far the industry has come.

For example, in 1978 semiconductor unit shipments totaled 32.6 billion. During the next 36 years, the average annual growth rate averaged 9.4% -- a testament to the increasing reliance on semiconductors in different aspects of modern life. However, the market is not without its slumps. Between 2008 and 2013, the annual growth rate slowed to just about 5% as a result of a worldwide economic recession. Now that most of the global economy has recovered, the growth rate is expected to reach 8%, a sign that the industry has not suffered any long-term effects and that the desire for semiconductors is still strong, especially in the increasingly popular mobile market.

The report’s historic information finds that semiconductors first topped the 100-billion shipment mark in 1987. From there, it took another 19 years, until 2006, for the market to reach 500 billion units. The next 100-billion unit mark was achieved the very next year, as the market topped 600 billion units in 2007. Thus the total of unit shipments of semiconductors has steadily increased at higher rates over time, bringing about each milestone at a quicker pace compared to the last. That is thanks in part of the consumer market and the explosive growth of items from smartphones to game consoles.

Since 1978, the percentage of ICs and OSD devices among total semiconductor shipments has remained about the same, in spite of various changes in the industry and advances in integrated circuit technology. ICs made up 21% of semiconductor units in 1978, whereas OSD devices accounted for 79% of total units. In 2016, OSD devices are expected to make up 74% of total semiconductor units compared to 26% for ICs.

Aston Martin recalls 17,590 cars due to counterfeit material

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/uk-autos-astonmartin-recall-idUKBREA141T420140205

(Reuters) - Aston Martin expanded a recall on Wednesday to cover most of its sports cars built since late 2007 after discovering a Chinese sub-supplier was using counterfeit plastic material in a part supplied to the British luxury sports carmaker.

Owned by Kuwaiti and private equity investors, Aston Martin said it would now recall 17,590 cars, including all of its left-hand drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand drive models built since May 2012.

That affects about 75 percent of all vehicles built in that period, a spokeswoman said. Its Vanquish model is not affected.

Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co Limited, a Chinese subcontractor that moulds the affected accelerator pedal arms, was using counterfeit DuPont plastic material, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The material was supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co Ltd of Dongguan, according to the documents.

The cars are being recalled from model years 2008 through 2014 because the accelerator pedal arm may break, increasing the risk of a crash, according to the NHTSA documents. The engine would return to idle and the driver would be unable to maintain or increase speed, according to the documents.

Aston Martin spokeswoman Sarah Calam said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue and 22 failed parts had been reported. She said the financial impact to the automaker was small, but did not quantify the total.

The cost of the recall is of great interest because Aston Martin has struggled to fund the development of a range of new vehicles while rivals like Bentley, owned by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), and Rolls Royce, owned by BMW (BMWG.DE), have the ability to draw on the resources of their parent firms.

Aston Martin's owners include Italian private equity fund Investindustrial, Kuwait-based Adeem Investment and Prime Wagon.

Germany's Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) also has stake of less than 5 percent in the British automaker.

Of the Aston Martin cars affected in the recall, 7,271 are in Europe and 5,001 in the United States, Calam said. The company sells cars in 41 countries.

The latest recall replaces one announced last May and expanded in October.

Because of the issue, Aston Martin is now being supplied directly by a DuPont distributor.

Both Aston Martin and chemical company Dupont (DD.N) sent people to China to directly supervise the production of all pedal arms, including verifying each bag of DuPont plastic material, Calam said.

PIRACY PROBLEM

The automaker plans to shift production of the pedal arms from China to the United Kingdom "as soon as possible" in 2014, she said.

Last May, Aston Martin initially recalled 2,832 cars globally to replace the accelerator pedal arm after finding the affected part included material that did not meet specifications, Calam said.

After another arm broke that was not part of that group, the company expanded the recall to 16,825 cars and required the use of material made by DuPont.

When one of the replacement parts broke in December during installation by a U.S. dealer in Connecticut, however, Aston Martin froze the recall and found the counterfeit plastic material was being used in place of the DuPont material, she said.

The recall includes all the cars previously repaired, Calam said. Under the recall, Aston Martin will replace the accelerator pedal assemblies.

The manufacturer of the throttle pedal assembly that included the counterfeit material is Precision Varionic International Limited, according to the NHTSA documents.

The company's quality director, John Penman, did not immediately return calls and messages seeking comment.

It is not the first time DuPont has dealt with piracy in relation to China.

U.S. prosecutors indicted a California businessman in 2011 with stealing DuPont trade secrets in order to sell them to a Chinese company. That trial is ongoing.