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edfas.org ELECTRONIC DEV ICE FA I LURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 23 NO . 3 22 attacker to add unwanted components to monitor com- munications and issue false commands. At a minimum, companies need to treat circuit-board design files with the same level of caution as computer source code. Unlike source code, however, it is quitenormal for these files tobe sent to third parties. Extra caution is warranted to protect files in transit and tomake sure that the board-fabrication vendors handle the files (and the machines that make circuit-board masks) with a high level of cybersecurity. After boards have been fabricated, care should be taken to compare the boards to the original design. Future work is needed to address this issue. For example, more sophisticated examples of attacks can be constructed andused to analyze the feasibility of an attack and to promote training and awareness. REFERENCES 1. J. Robertson andM. Riley: “TheBigHack: HowChinaUseda Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies,” Bloomberg Businessweek, Oct. 4, 2018. 2. S.H. Russ and J. Gatlin: “Ways to Hack a Printed Circuit Board: PCB Production is anUnderappreciatedVulnerability in theGlobal Supply Chain,” IEEE Spectrum, 57 (9), Sept. 2020, p. 38-43. 3. A. Greenberg, “Planting Tiny Spy Chips in Hardware Can Cost as Little as $200,” Wired , Oct. 10, 2019. [Accessible via https:// www.wired.com/story/plant-spy-chips-hardware-supermicro- cheap-proof-of-concept/]. 4. 4. S.H. Russ, “Techniques to Thwart Surreptitiously Altered PCBs,” 2020 IEEE Physical Assurance and Inspection of Electronics (PAINE), Washington, D.C., 2020, p. 1-4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Samuel H. Russ received his Ph.D. fromGeorgia Tech in 1991. Hemanaged a high-volume set-top box design group at Scientific-Atlanta from 2000-2007. His group launched two models into high- volume production and hemanaged product design, sustaining engineering, and quality analysis. He joined the University of South Alabama in 2007, where he studies embedded systems and consumer electronics. His group’s work in coaxial in-home networking won an Engineering and Technology Emmy Award in 2013.