_{The Georgia Tech research team is shown in the Marietta substation yard with collaborators from the city of Marietta. (Credit: City of Marietta)}

A new cybersecurity technology that relies on the unique digital fingerprint of individual semiconductor chips could help protect the equipment of electrical utilities from malicious attacks that exploit software updates on devices controlling the critical infrastructure.

The GridTrust project, which has been successfully tested in a real substation of a U.S. municipal power system, combines the digital fingerprint with cryptographic technology to provide enhanced security for the utilities and other critical industrial systems that must update control device software or firmware. The team is lead by Santiago Grijalva, the Southern Company Distinguished Professor in ECE, and also includes ECE Associate Professor Vincent Mooney.