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Eureka! Award for Cryptographic concept of WUT researchers

Graphics symbolising the cryptographic

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In the competition organized by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna "Eureka! DGP - we discover Polish inventions”, the third place was awarded to the idea of a duo of researchers from the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology – for a generator of physically non-copiable cryptographic keys.

Professor Eng. Piotr Z. Wieczorek, and Eng. Krzysztof Gołofit, Sc.D., compare their project to a fingerprint, but in a digital form. It is a solution based on microscopic differences in the structure of electronic systems which are used to create cryptographic systems with exceptionally high security parameters.

In the case of standard security features, the cryptographic key is obtained using a random number generator that presents a value called the seed. Next, the seed undergoes a series of transformations to become the key. The weakness of such a solution is that the seed formation stage is based on specific mathematical operations that are not completely random – knowing which algorithm was used makes it easier to break the system. The circuit developed by researchers from Warsaw University of Technology is resistant to such interference, because it is based on atomic differences in the structure of the transistors and makes it impossible to reach the seed.

The innovative electronic circuit of the two researchers from EiTI WUT has one more important feature. It is not only extremely secure, but also inexpensive.