Self-destructing computer chip? You may have seen scenes from spy movies”Mission Impossible”, όπου κάθε φορά που ο Tom Cruise λαμβάνει ένα μυστικό μήνυμα, τα τελευταία ηχογραφημένα λόγια είναι “Αυτό το μήνυμα θα αυτοκαταστραφεί σε 5 δευτερόλεπτα” και … ΜΠΟΥΜ!
There is a sudden explosion, smoke comes out of the device, and the sensitive information that existed a few seconds ago is destroyed forever.
This self-destruction scenario may have become a reality. Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated (PARC), a subsidiary of Xerox, has successfully deployed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) which foresees self-destruction chip of the computer at the command of the operator within 10 seconds.
Now, at DARPA's initiative, the project will soon become a reality and will be mainly for military personnel.
PARC presented this stunning technology at DARPA's "Wait, What?" Event in St Louis, as part of the VAPR project.
The original model constructionIntegrated Circuit (IC) technology focuses mainly on two technologies namely:
- Transient technology
- DUST technology - Disintegration Upon Stress-Release Trigger
The chip is designed on a Gorilla Glass substrate which is capable of break κατόπιν εντολής του ιδιοκτήτη σε εκατομμύρια κομμάτια τα οποία δεν μπορούν μετέπειτα να ανακατασκευαστούν. Είναι το ίδιο γυαλί που usesται ως προστατευτικό κάλυμμα στα smartphones.
The team of researchers security from Parc at the event in St. Louis demonstrated (see link below) how a laser light activates the self-destruct circuit. It could also be activated by an RF (radio frequency) signal or by a simple physical switch.
"The complete destruction of electronic devices can be used for military security, personal data protection, and environmental science," PARC said.
Η DARPA funded the PARC with 2.128.834 dollars, for the research they carried out under the project VAPR.
This is not the first time that this kind of technology is being developed. DARPA has granted IBM 2014 in December with 3.455.473 dollars for a similar survey
So it is very likely that we will soon see the idea of the chip that can be self-destructing, in fact.
Watch the demo video below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYjiUQgyNu8
