For the past 14 years, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been working with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) companies in order to gain a better understanding of their rapidly changing technologies. Through these partnerships with industry, a need has been identified to develop documentation to help United States Government security designers correctly implement the security features of the parts these companies provide. NSA has recently implemented the Secure Guidance Program - FPGAs in response to this need.
This program works to develop Secure Implementation Guides (SIGs) to help explain the unique implementation of the numerous Security Features within each vendor's product family. In order to provide system engineers and program managers with an easy-to-view cross-reference of Security Features within each vendor's FPGA families, Standardized Security Specification Sheets are created as a follow-up to the SIGs.
The Secure Guidance Program - FPGAs recently reached a milestone, with the completion of its first two SIGs. With increasing requests for guidance in the implementation of FPGAs, the NSA is rapidly developing more Guides to cover additional vendor FPGA device families. The two complete SIGs are currently available, upon login, on IAD.gov.
For more information on the Secure Guidance Program - FPGAs and the current and upcoming SIGs, please contact Core Technology Engineering, (410) 854-4311.