NSA Publishes Guidance on Characterizing Threats, Risks to DoD Microelectronics: Levels of Assurance

guest · Sep 3, 2022

Levels of Assurance for DoD Microelectronics
By Bruce Schneier - August 29, 2022

The NSA has has published criteria for evaluating levels of assurance required for DoD microelectronics.

The introductory report in a DoD microelectronics series outlines the process for determining levels of hardware assurance for systems and custom microelectronic components, which include application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other devices containing reprogrammable digital logic.

The levels of hardware assurance are determined by the national impact caused by failure or subversion of the top-level system and the criticality of the component to that top-level system. The guidance helps programs acquire a better understanding of their system and components so that they can effectively mitigate against threats.
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The report was published last month, but I only just noticed it.
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NSA Publishes Guidance on Characterizing Threats, Risks to DoD Microelectronics

FORT MEADE, Md. — The National Security Agency’s (NSA) Joint Federation Assurance Center (JFAC) Hardware Assurance Lab published a report on “DoD Microelectronics: Levels of Assurance Definitions and Applications” today to characterize the threats and risks to custom microelectronic components used in Department of Defense (DoD) systems. The Cybersecurity Technical Report includes definitions and guidance on applying three levels of hardware assurance to protect applicable DoD systems.
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The levels of hardware assurance are determined by the national impact caused by failure or subversion of the top-level system and the criticality of the component to that top-level system. The guidance helps programs acquire a better understanding of their system and components so that they can effectively mitigate against threats.
Click to expand...

DoD Microelectronics: Levels of Assurance Definitions and Applications (PDF):
https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/14/2003034921/-1/-1/1/CTR_DOD_MICROELECTRONICS_LEVELS_OF_ASSURANCE_DEFINITIONS_AND_APPLICATIONS_20220714.PDF

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