In a world where attacks on electronic systems can be conducted remotely, security is a vital component of system design. Even systems that do not have to store personal or commercially confidential data now have to be designed with security in mind to prevent their core intellectual property (IP) from being copied and reused illegally. In these examples, we can see the two elements of electronic system security: design security and data security. Increasingly, the two depend on each other.

In what we call design security, the goal is to ensure the core design is protected and that the security intent of the owner of the intellectual property (IP) it contains is followed at all times. The design must not be subverted or changed without the owner’s permission, the design must not be revealed to those who do not have authorized access to that information and the design must not be used in other systems without authentication.