Q-Crypto Reconfigurable Instruction Set Processor

The dramatic improvements in tools to reverse engineer facsimiles of application source code from processor-specific executable files, plus highly subsidized adversarial foreign government-funded organizations using these tools, create threats to vital USgovernment and commercial software. To protect legacy applications and existing systems we propose an add-in solution that requires little modification to existing software code while simultaneously providing for secure future solutions. This addressesOSD's challenges of protecting critical software by providing a reconfigurable instruction set processor to protect software opcodes. The project will build upon the proven concepts of reconfigurable instruction set processor architectures and extend themto include both scrambled and encrypted opcodes. The approach will build upon existing SRAM-based FPGA technologies from QuickFlex and market leader Xilinx to build the Reconfigurable Instruction Set Processor (RISP). Previously traditional processorsonly executed one instruction set because of the high cost of design and support.Now with these automated tools, large FPGAs, and the unique QuickFlex middleware for managing virtual objects we have the opportunity to produce this processor. These processors may also be extended with instruction sets optimized at the target applicationto improve performance and reduce added hardware costs. The QuickFlex Q-Crypto Reconfigurable Instruction Set Processor (RISP) will protect critical software intellectual property (IP) from reverse engineering with reconfigurable instructions that create new code each time the software is used. Our RISPsolutions will help protect key government and commercial applications from reverse engineering, code manipulation, and attack. The proposed RISP with scrambled opcodes that are encrypted should be of great interest to the government and commercialmarkets. The ability to provide runtime reconfigurations of software opcode in the hardware coupled with encryption is a significant step forward in the protection of applications. Beyond our nation's key unclassified and classified governmentinfrastructure solutions and specialized military applications, industries that need to protect sensitive non-runtime and runtime software solutions include: various software vendors, banking and financial institutions, e-commerce providers, medicalsolution providers, and others.