FPGA Viruses

Programmable logic is widely used, for applications ranging from field-upgradeable subsystems to advanced uses such as reconfigurable computing platforms which are modifiable at run-time. Users can thus implement algorithms which are largely executed by a general-purpose CPU, but may be selectively accelerated with special purpose hardware. In this paper, we show that programmable logic devices unfortunately open another avenue for malicious users to implement the hardware analogue of a