Red Teaming Methodology for Design Obfuscation
Published: Aug 19, 2025
Last Updated: Aug 19, 2025
Authors:Yuntao Liu, Abir Akib, Zelin Lu, Qian Xu, Ankur Srivastava, Gang Qu, David Kehlet, Nij Dorairaj
Abstract
The main goal of design obfuscation schemes is to protect sensitive design details from untrusted parties in the VLSI supply chain, including but not limited to off-shore foundries and untrusted end users. In this work, we provide a systematic red teaming approach to evaluate the security of design obfuscation approaches. Specifically, we propose security metrics and evaluation methodology for the scenarios where the adversary does not have access to a working chip. A case study on the RIPPER tool developed by the University of Florida indicates that more information is leaked about the structure of the original design than commonly considered.