LabVIEW FPGA bitstream encryption?

[tadders]

Hi all,

Can anyone provide any advice or experience on FPGA bitstream encryption to protect Intellectual Property using LabVIEW?

thanks,

P

[IanS · Accepted solution]

Hi

The compiler doesn't encrypt the bitstream at all. There are several reasons for this, one of which is there is little reason seen for a customer to want to do this.

The two main reasons for wanting encryption:

1) someone could get hold of the code. This isn't possible, there is no way to reverse engineer the bitfile back to FPGA code.

2) someone could run the code if the bitfile was stolen. This can be addressed by encryption post compilation.

I have found a little example of bitstream encryption on our website specifically for NI products.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/6074

which could work for addressing reason 2.

So I guess the question is, why do you require encryption?

Best regards,

[tadders]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the reply!

Forgive me if I'm being ignorant - this is not really my field.

A quick trawl of the net seems to suggest that you can reverse engineer a bitstream back to code if you are determined enough.

I guess its a case of risk assessment, and this is the response that I will give to my superiors.

P

[Tinnotek]

Hi Ian,

It seems the link you provided is broken, do you have any alternative link?

Thanks

Ting

[UliB]

Try this one:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130613033308/http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/6074 

[Tinnotek]

Thanks UliB,

I also found this series of RIO security articles.

Just leave the links here for fucture references.

Overview of Best Practices for Security on RIO Systems - NI

Best Practices for Security on RIO Systems: Part 3 Extreme - NI