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Algorithm-based Software vs. Algorithm-based Hardware

By Milica Djekic

Many encryption algorithms may be stored as both – software and hardware solutions. Whatever
you hold as a software or hardware could be at risk once bad guys decide to deal with your effort.
So, what would be more secure – to keep your confidential algorithm as your software or on your
hardware? The both techniques got their pluses and minuses and right here we would discuss how
all of them could be manifested. There is no a universal answer to this question, but rather an
opportunity to estimate on your own as well as choose the most suitable solution to your
organization at that certain moment.

The requirements for confidential algorithm storage

The main requirement for confidential algorithm storage would include a certain level of security in
terms of reliable protection of content. As it’s known, there is no an absolute security and nearly
every – either software or hardware content – could be hacked, at least in a theory.

Confidential algorithm should as its name suggests deal with highly confidential or at least secret
data and, in such a manner; we would assume it’s correlated with some sort of encryption solution.
It’s clear that such a solution seeks a quite good level of protection and cannot be stored at a fully
unprotected machine or device.

Nothing can offer to us an absolute security, but what we could try to do is to manage such a risk at
an acceptable level. Theoretically, everything could be hackable, but it requires a certain amount of
time and effort to take advantage over that resource.

For instance, if you hold a highly confidential encryption algorithm as software on a completely
unprotected computer, you deal with a risk that someone could break into your machine and steal,
change or destroy your product. Similarly, you could keep your cryptographic algorithm on some
physical device as hardware-based solution and even, in such a case, your effort could be
vulnerable to hacker’s attacks.

Right here, we plan to provide a brief overview of possibilities offered by both – algorithm-based
software and algorithm-based hardware as well as discuss good and bad sides of these
technologies.

What could algorithm-based software offer to you?

When we try to compare a cryptographic algorithm produced as software with the similar solution
given as hardware – at a first glance, we would notice that there is a difference in cost. Practically, it
may be much cheaper to code your solution in some programming language, rather than to pack it
into many ICs, diodes or transistors. So, software-based solution may appear as somehow cost-
effective.

The next question we should deal with here is how secure such a solution is. If you develop a highly
confidential algorithm and embed it into software, you would realize so soon that if your computer is
26 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – September 2015 Edition
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