Device-Specific Signature Generation Technique for Smart Grid Device

Security of a newly deployed device has always been a crucial issue for vendors and researchers. However, that is not the case for existing devices that have an outdated or limited security defense mechanism. These devices have introduced a new range of security threats in many areas, including smart homes and smart grids. There are a number of significant security challenges that require a more in-depth look. These devices have limited to no security protocols to defend themselves against adversaries. In most cases, these devices are in contact with other devices, and they can be used as a potential point of entry to compromise the system. Vendors have not prioritized security, leaving millions of people at risk of various forms of attacks. This paper exploits the security of existing devices from the hardware perspective. In particular, this paper proposes a novel device-specific signature generation approach by bringing the concept of physical unclonable function (PUF) into legacy smart devices. Experimental results show that the signatures generated from each device are sufficiently unique to be used as secret keys in communication or cryptographic operations.