Evolution of Hardware Trojans: Structure, Taxonomy, Countermeasures and Challenges

Resumen

Integrated circuits (ICs) play an important role in internet of things (IoT) devices. Numerous
ways have evolved for cyber-attacks through software and hardware in IoT devices, and
hence need for the protection of ICs has reached a prodigious level. In this paper, we have
focused on the structure of hardware trojans (HT), their taxonomy, ways of implantation of
HT in ICs lifecycle, various mechanisms of activation, and the abstraction level. Further, we
present the classification of HT, their detection techniques, diagnosis, and prevention
techniques. We provide a detailed explanation and a comparative analysis of various state of
the art machine learning and adiabatic logic-based HT detection techniques. We also
highlight some plausible threats of HT in the military, healthcare, and IoT applications. The
paper presents the countermeasures and security challenges pertaining to HT.