Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Jason Oberg, Co-founder & CTO at Tortuga Logic:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Tortuga Logic?
A: Founded in 2014, Tortuga Logic is a cybersecurity company that has pioneered industry-leading products and services to detect hardware security vulnerabilities overlooked in today’s systems. The company’s Radix product line addresses security by preventing vulnerabilities during the pre-silicon design and verification process. Spectre and Meltdown are two of the more well-known examples of a broad spectrum of vulnerabilities our verification methodology helps prevent.
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Q: You’ve recently announced that you have been awarded an SBIR Phase III contract from the US Government to foster the development of advanced hardware security solutions; can you tell us something more?
A: The US Government has been making significant investments in the United States’ competitiveness in microelectronics. This has been ongoing, and in the last several years received a significant push as part of a multi-billion dollar initiative called Microelectronics Innovation for National Security and Economic Competitiveness, or MINSEC for short. Since then, several pieces of legislation have been introduced, including the recent CHIPS for America Act. all focused on the US building more competitive microelectronics with the highest standards of security.
A significant thrust of these initiatives is the need for Trusted and Assured Microelectronics, specifically to build microelectronics with the highest levels of hardware security. Tortuga Logic has been actively working to build products and technologies that serve these mission objectives as part of prior contracts, including one announced at the end of 2019 as part of the Air Force AFWERX initiative.
This SBIR Phase III contract was awarded as an extension and expansion of the contract awarded at the end of 2019. The Phase III focus is specifically to expand our existing Radix software products to detect a new class of security vulnerabilities, specifically those that exploit weaknesses in microelectronics due to power consumption.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your solutions?
A: Our Radix software detects and prevents hardware security vulnerabilities by integrating into the industry standard commercial microelectronic design environments from Cadence Design Systems, Mentor (a Siemens business), and Synopsys. Radix uses patented technology to find unknown vulnerabilities in a microelectronic device as part of our customers’ existing microelectronic design workflow.
Q: What can we expect from Tortuga Logic in the first half of 2021?
A: Tortuga Logic continues to make strong technical innovations in hardware security and furthers its product deployments with its government and commercial customers alike. We are seeing an exponential increase in hardware vulnerabilities in the last several years and we believe that trend will continue in 2021. We believe these will be a significant driver in further creating demand for our Radix software and its derivatives, like those funded by our Phase III.
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Q: What’s the best thing about Tortuga Logic that people might not know about?
A: Many are unfamiliar with the field of hardware security. Tortuga Logic is really working on the foundational aspects of computer security, specifically detecting and preventing vulnerabilities down at the individual chip level. Our modern semiconductors are becoming so complex with the growing need for AI acceleration, higher transistor density, and tighter integration that the hardware attack surface is growing dramatically. The cost of a hardware exploit is astronomical, and Tortuga Logic is really focused on helping prevent those from happening.
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