Design of crypto-biometric hardware for video encryption and authentication (ID-EO)

Abstract:

As more and more individuals and devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones, cameras, etc.) are interconnected through public networks, it is essential to ensure that the information exchanged (multimedia many times) really comes from individuals and devices that must generate, store, or process it. The generation of cryptographic keys from the intrinsic nature of devices or individuals not only ensures their digital identity when they access or provide information but also allow the encryption and authentication of such information, bonding it to the counterfeit-resistant identities.

Since a cryptographic system is as secure as its secret key, there is a growing interest in increasing the security of cryptographic key storage by using specific hardware, rather than just having software solutions. This is the reason why digital hardware (crypto-modules) will be designed in ID-EO project to generate the keys when needed instead of storing them, always involving the authentic device or individual designated to generate them. Moreover, they will be able to generate truly random numbers and identifiers. The modules will offer diversification, because they can generate different keys from the same identity, and revocability, because if one key is compromised, a new one can be generated at a new registration process.

The design of crypto-modules that could provide such functionality would find a very wide range of applications. In particular, a natural application domain is embedded vision systems that would become "chains of trust", ensuring the authenticity of the system itself and the confidentiality, privacy and integrity of the video captured and processed by the system. Nowadays, the proliferation of communications and web technologies has created an environment in which the security of the images and videos that are transmitted or stored in open channels is questioned. This is the reason why trust embedded vision systems will be designed in the ID-EO project, capable of real-time video selective encryption and authentication with constrained resources and low-power consumption.