Presentation
3rd AI/CAD for Hardware Security Workshop (AICAD4Sec 2025)
DescriptionSecurity vulnerabilities in hardware designs are catastrophic as once fabricated, they are nearly impossible to patch. Modern SoCs (Systems-on-Chip) face threats like side-channel leakage, information leakage, access control violations, and malicious functionality, jeopardizing the foundational integrity of SoCs. These vulnerabilities circumvent software-level defenses, creating urgent challenges for hardware security. Ensuring the security of hardware designs is challenging due to their huge complexity, aggressive time-to-markets, and the variety of attacks against hardware designs. Moreover, it is very costly for a design house to keep many security experts with in-depth design knowledge with diverse security implications. So, the semiconductor industry looks for a set of metrics, reusable security solutions, and automatic computer-aided-design (CAD) tools to aid analysis, identifying, root-causing, and mitigating SoC security problems. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the landscape of CAD, providing unprecedented opportunities to tackle these challenges. AI-driven tools have the potential to analyze complex SoC designs at multiple abstraction levels, automatically detect vulnerabilities, and even predict potential attack vectors. By leveraging advanced AI models, including large language models (LLMs) and machine learning algorithms, we can now accelerate the identification of root causes, assess risks, and recommend security
countermeasures. The inclusion of AI in CAD/EDA for security addresses these issues in innovative ways, e.g., (1) Enhanced Vulnerability Detection, (2) Contextual Adaptability, and (3) Proactive Security.
Building on the resounding success of the 1st (inauguration) and 2nd CAD4Sec workshops, the 3rd iteration aims to embrace the transformative intersection of AI, CAD, and hardware security. Now rebranded as AICAD4Sec, this workshop aims to drive innovation at the nexus of AI-driven solutions and hardware design security. The ultimate vision of AICAD4Sec is to establish a cutting-edge platform that shows advancements and sets the roadmap for secure, AI-enabled hardware design, specifically, (i) Engaging experts from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, Synopsys, and ARM, alongside academia and government agencies such as DARPA and AFRL; (ii) Showcasing the latest breakthroughs in AI-enhanced CADs for security; (iii) Facilitating practical demonstrations of AI-driven
solutions in hardware security by both industries/academia; and (iv) Hosting a dynamic panel discussion on the evolving role of AI, with a particular focus on large language models and their implications for secure SoC design.
Building on the foundation of its predecessors, the 3rd AICAD4Sec workshop will contain several technical talks on the scope of metrics and CAD as the following:
● CAD Tools for Side-Channel Vulnerability Assessment (Power, Timing, and Electromagnetic Leakage)
● Security-Oriented Equivalency Checking and Property Validation
● Fault Injection Analysis and Countermeasure Integration in CAD
● CAD for Secure Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration
● Assessment of Physical Probing and Reverse Engineering Risks
● AI-Powered Tools for Pre-Silicon Vulnerability Mitigation and Countermeasure Suggestions
● Large Language Models for Security-Aware Design Automation
● ML-Enhanced Threat Detection Across Design Abstractions
● AI-Augmented Detection of Malicious Functionality in Hardware Designs
● AI-Enabled Security Verification for Emerging SoC Architectures.
countermeasures. The inclusion of AI in CAD/EDA for security addresses these issues in innovative ways, e.g., (1) Enhanced Vulnerability Detection, (2) Contextual Adaptability, and (3) Proactive Security.
Building on the resounding success of the 1st (inauguration) and 2nd CAD4Sec workshops, the 3rd iteration aims to embrace the transformative intersection of AI, CAD, and hardware security. Now rebranded as AICAD4Sec, this workshop aims to drive innovation at the nexus of AI-driven solutions and hardware design security. The ultimate vision of AICAD4Sec is to establish a cutting-edge platform that shows advancements and sets the roadmap for secure, AI-enabled hardware design, specifically, (i) Engaging experts from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, Synopsys, and ARM, alongside academia and government agencies such as DARPA and AFRL; (ii) Showcasing the latest breakthroughs in AI-enhanced CADs for security; (iii) Facilitating practical demonstrations of AI-driven
solutions in hardware security by both industries/academia; and (iv) Hosting a dynamic panel discussion on the evolving role of AI, with a particular focus on large language models and their implications for secure SoC design.
Building on the foundation of its predecessors, the 3rd AICAD4Sec workshop will contain several technical talks on the scope of metrics and CAD as the following:
● CAD Tools for Side-Channel Vulnerability Assessment (Power, Timing, and Electromagnetic Leakage)
● Security-Oriented Equivalency Checking and Property Validation
● Fault Injection Analysis and Countermeasure Integration in CAD
● CAD for Secure Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration
● Assessment of Physical Probing and Reverse Engineering Risks
● AI-Powered Tools for Pre-Silicon Vulnerability Mitigation and Countermeasure Suggestions
● Large Language Models for Security-Aware Design Automation
● ML-Enhanced Threat Detection Across Design Abstractions
● AI-Augmented Detection of Malicious Functionality in Hardware Designs
● AI-Enabled Security Verification for Emerging SoC Architectures.
Event Type
Workshop
TimeSunday, June 229:00am - 5:00pm PDT
Location3001, Level 3
AI
Security
Sunday Program