Fingerprinting Quantum Computer Equipment

Jalil Morris, Anisul Abedin, Chuanqi Xu, Jakub Szefer
June, 2023
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Abstract

With the increased real-world deployment of quantum computers, there is a security need to be able to fingerprint and track their equipment. This work proposes that cryogenic equipment used in superconducting qubit quantum computers could leverage inexpensive SRAM-based PUFs as fingerprints. This work is the first to perform a security evaluation of SRAM PUFs under cryogenic conditions using liquid nitrogen to rapidly freeze the memories to temperatures approaching -195C (-320F or 77K). This work demonstrates that SRAM PUFs can become more stable under cryogenic conditions. As a result, a possible novel application of the SRAM PUFs is to identify and track quantum computer cryogenic hardware. Other means of fingerprinting quantum computer equipment are also possible, for example, based on the frequency of qubits. The ability to fingerprint quantum computers can be on one hand beneficial, to track the equipment, but on the other detrimental as attackers with access to the fingerprints could identify specific machines. Understanding the benefits and dangers of fingerprinting quantum computers, and securely deploying fingerprinting mechanisms is necessary to protect these emerging computing platforms.

Type
1
Publication
Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI)
fingerprinting hardware security quantum computers
Chuanqi Xu
Chuanqi Xu
Ph.D. Student

I am a PhD candidate at Yale University. My current research focuses on quantum computing and computer security, where I design novel attacks and defenses targeting quantum computers and quantum cloud providers. Specifically, my work explores security and privacy across the entire technology stack of quantum computers:

  1. Investigating vulnerabilities in quantum processors and qubit technologies.
  2. Developing secure and private quantum computer systems and architecture.
  3. Ensuring the security of quantum algorithms, with a focus on quantum machine learning (QML).

Previously, I worked on RTL design (Verilog) for FPGAs, implementing Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) that is secure to both classical and quantum computer attacks.

I am actively seeking roles as a research scientist, software engineer, and quant researcher. I am broadly interested in developing systems and infrastructure, especially for ML/GenAI infrastructure and systems.