Precursor

on YouTube ↗56m

" summary

Precursor is a compact, inspectable mobile platform that compiles open hardware into an FPGA-based SoC using Migen/LiteX, pushing the point-of-check toward users. Hardware highlights: a single-core RISC‑V CPU, 16 MB RAM, 120 MB flash, 200 dpi 336×536 B/W display, physical keyboard and a translucent PCB for visual inspection. Crypto: a Curve25519 accelerator that drops ECDH from ~100 ms to ~2.3 ms, dual TRNGs xored, AES blocks and key ROMs. Design separates trusted domain from untrusted I/O, supports self‑destruct fuses, open toolchain and a Rust OS (Zeus) in development; crowdfunding underway.

AI-written summary · about

" chapters (49)

1. 0:00Intro
2. 1:31Software Has Evidence-Based Tools to Transfer Trust
3. 1:52Hashing
4. 2:10Signing
5. 2:21Key Point: In Software, We can Transfer Trust, So that Place of Check is Near the User
6. 5:11Removing Tamper Stickers with hot air
7. 6:01Cut to the Chase: It's a Big Attack Surface
8. 6:58Can Open Source Save Us?
9. 7:14Problem: Place of Check Too far from Place of Use
10. 7:41Open Factory Test (Trustable Factory) Is Only a Marginal Improvement
11. 8:08The Big Problem: You Can't "Hash" Hardware
12. 9:04Problem #1: A Building-Sized Microscope
13. 9:43Problem #2: Verifying One Chip Verifies Only One Chip
14. 10:33Can We Build an Evidence-Based Case To Trust Our Computers?
15. 11:26Three Principles For Evidence-Based Trust in Hardware
16. 12:01Problem: Complexity is Complicated
17. 13:01Simplicity is Limiting
18. 14:22Point of Use Verification Tradeoff: Ease of Verification vs. Features & Usability
19. 15:57Why a Device, and Not a Chip?
20. 16:16The Secure I/0 Problem
21. 17:21Empower Verification At Multiple Levels
22. 17:51Self-Provisioning and Sealing
23. 18:49Sealing Can (Should?) be Physical Too
24. 19:24Precursor: A Case Study in Verifiable Hardware
25. 20:09Precursor: What Functions?
26. 21:33Precursor: Simple in Construction
27. 22:05Physical Keyboard
28. 22:37Verification Difficulty: Trivial
29. 23:03Touch Keyboard Verification: Very Hard
30. 23:34Verifiable LCD
31. 23:56Verifiable Screen
32. 26:03The PCB: Designed Along Attack Surfaces
33. 27:50T-Domain Attack Surfaces Illustrated
34. 28:40The Hardest Problem: Evidence-Based Trust and the CPU (or SoC)
35. 30:16FPGA: Narrowing the TOCTOU Gap by Compiling Your Own SoC
36. 31:10FPGA Features "ASLR for Hardware": Pseudo-Random Mapping of Design to Device
37. 32:03How Pseudo-Random Mapping Helps
38. 33:10Closing the Loop: Prjxray
39. 34:32A Look Inside the SoC
40. 35:35The Core Complex
41. 37:47LiteX is a Powerful SoC Integration Framework
42. 39:13Debug Complex
43. 40:10Memory-Mapped I/O
44. 40:53Cryptography Complex
45. 41:54Engine 25519
46. 42:49Dual TRNG Architecture
47. 43:42Precursor: Embodying the Three Princples for Evidence-Based Trust in Hardware
48. 44:13Precursor: Close the Hardware TOCTOU Gap by Moving Verification Closer to the Point of Use
49. 45:20Precursor Current Development Status

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