Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Eleven Fraunhofer Institutes and two Leibniz Institutes are working together with electronics network edacentrum on the Trusted Electronics – Velektronik research project. The project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is focused on the security of electronic components; for example, the use of intelligent sensors to prevent production data from being read as easily as it currently can be. Microchips are also indispensable to the electronics industry. The problem is that chips with integrated processors are only produced by a few large manufacturers in the USA and Asia. A variety of different companies then integrate them into modules or process them further into finished electronic components. “The customer has to blindly trust the quality and reliability of the producers,” explains Jörg Stephan, coordinator of Velektronik at the Berlin business office of the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany. But the components are not always trustworthy, he says. When it comes to IT, experts make a distinction between safety and security. “Safety” means that components work reliably and can fulfill their functions by, for instance, not overheating. “Security” means that a device cannot be subject to an attack or hacked by a third party. In the past, there have been many examples of malfunctions that occurred in internationally sourced electronic components. One famous case involved Chinese-produced chips that were installed in phones and USB sticks in order to tap data. Some other components are simply substandard, and quickly become broken.
However, the completely independent production of chips and electronic components in Europe would not be a realistic aim. “Across decades, the electronics market has developed into a gigantic, international network. No single country would be able to cover the entire supply chain, from raw materials like silicon up to the completed chip,” says Stephan. This means that another methodology is required to ensure more sovereignty and security in the digital world.