Hardware Security Engineer - Internship

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. We apply our Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware, and IP that turn design concepts into reality.

This strategy is supplemented by AI-augmented development practices throughout all our organizations to empower our team to focus on creative problem-solving and innovation. Our customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products—from chips to boards to systems—for dynamic market applications including consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace, industrial, and health. Join us and be part of a culture that values innovation, collaboration, and customer success. 

At Secure-IC, a Cadence company, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

Job Title: Hardware Security Engineer - Internship.

Location: Rennes

Reports to: Senior Design Engineering Manager

Job Overview:

The internship consists of setting up an application-oriented case study for a laser fault injection test bench, in compliance with Common Criteria requirements.

The case study will focus on the evaluation of secure code and will aim to define the required injection parameter configuration to induce faults on microcontroller and/or FPGA-based targets.
The case study will also serve as a validation tool to assess and improve the capabilities of the laser fault injection test bench itself.

Job Responsibilities:

• Define a reproducible laser fault injection methodology.

• Develop secure code on a target to be defined and set up the case study environment.

• Evaluate the robustness of a target/IP against advanced physical attacks.

• Identify and map sensitive areas of the circuit.

• Characterize exploitable fault models.

• Assess the effectiveness of existing countermeasures.

• Propose security improvements aligned with the targeted Common Criteria levels, as well as enhancements to the laser evaluation bench.

• Produce technical documentation demonstrating the feasibility of the case study.

Job Qualifications:

• Engineering degree in Embedded Systems or an equivalent field.

• Software and hardware development on FPGA and microcontroller platforms.

• Proficiency in Python, C, and HDL development.

• Knowledge of hardware cryptography and digital architecture.

• Strong interest in hardware attacks and physical security.

• Proficiency with Git and version control tools.

Additional Skills/Preferences:                    

Comfortable with hands-on experimental laboratory work, low-level debugging, and technical documentation writing is highly appreciated.

Cadence is committed to equal employment opportunity and employment equity throughout all levels of the organization. We strive to attract a qualified and diverse candidate pool and encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

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