Design & Reuse

Industry Articles

The Fundamentals of a SHA-256 Master/Slave Authentication System

-
June 20, 2013

Bernhard Linke, Maxim Integrated
EETimes (6/19/2013 12:28 PM EDT)

For more than 10 years, SHA-1 authentication has been used to effectively protect intellectual property from counterfeiting and illegal copying. As computer technology advances, customers are asking for an even higher level of security.

Today a new group of secure authenticators and a companion secure coprocessors implement SHA-256 authentication. This new system provides advanced physical security to deliver unsurpassed low-cost IP protection, clone prevention, and peripheral authentication. This article explains the general logistics of the SHA-256-based security system and introduces the bidirectional authentication functionality which the authentication system utilizes.  

Click here to read more ...