A domestic research team has found a clue in nature to create a physical security key that can prevent information leaks in the Internet of Things era.

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on the 11th that Professor Song Young-min's research team at GIST has developed a method to create a physical security key using the micro-nano-sized hierarchical structure present in silk extracted from silkworm cocoons.

Security key technology, commonly referred to as physically unclonable elements (PUFs), was originally manufactured using complex semiconductor processes.

PUF is a technology that allows devices manufactured through the same process to generate completely different security keys, and is manufactured by taking advantage of differences in the microstructure of the semiconductor process.

The PUF produced in this study does not require a separate manufacturing process because it utilizes silk itself, which exists in nature.

The silk-based physical security key developed by the research team is expected to serve as a key to maintaining strong security for Internet of Things devices and end users, as well as for generating encryption keys for data transmission and storage.

Additionally, silk PUFs do not utilize additional optical systems.

Using optical phenomenaSince Anki can be extracted and generated, miniaturization can be expected.

Accordingly, it is expected that the effect will be greater when linked to smart grids, IoT, and connected cars.

When LED light is shined on the surface of natural silk, the light is diffracted and collected at random locations due to the disorderly distributed nano- and micro-sized hierarchical structures inside the silk.

By absorbing this light in an image sensor and converting it into an electrical signal, a security key consisting of 0s and 1s can be generated.

This security key passed the randomness test of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and was confirmed to exhibit high reproducibility and randomness.

This study predicts the possibility of developing a PUF that is resistant to humidity and temperature by producing it using △electrospinning△3D printing technology.

Professor Song Young-min said, “This is the first case that has revealed that natural silk also has a unique encryption key like a human fingerprint.”

Meanwhile, the research results were published on the 11th in the international academic journal 'Nature Communications'.