Structural Attacks and Defenses for Flow-Based Microfluidic Biochips

Material-level countermeasures for securing microfluidic biochips

“…To ensure economy of scale and cost reduction, biochip companies have been using outsourcing and horizontal supply-chain models for their goods and services, which involve untrusted third-party partners. [19][20][21] Due to third-party involvement, the associated material-level threat landscape increases considerably, posing the risk of malicious and intellectual property (IP)-theft attacks. [20][21][22][23] Attacks on microfluidic biochips have emerged as a critical rising threat.…”

“…[19][20][21] Due to third-party involvement, the associated material-level threat landscape increases considerably, posing the risk of malicious and intellectual property (IP)-theft attacks. [20][21][22][23] Attacks on microfluidic biochips have emerged as a critical rising threat. The severity of such attacks lies in the potential to harm patients, compromise healthcare, lose trust among health practitioners and clinicians, waste resources, and have negative economic consequences.…”

“…DMFBs use discrete droplets on an electrode array leveraging the principle of electrowetting-on-dielectric, while FMBs manipulate fluid flow in microchannels using pumps and valves. 1,8,20,29 In this work, we specifically target PDMS-based FMBs due to the presence of PDMS microfluidic valves in such systems, unlike DMFBs that don't use microfluidic valves for their operation. 8 Microfluidic valves are made out of thin PDMS membranes; these valves are crucial for controlling the fluid flow in a network of microchannels.…”

“…8,19,20,30 mixing, incubating, filtering, and washing. 1,8,20,30 Microfluidic valves, along with recent advances in microfabrication techniques, have enabled large-scale integrated microfluidic circuitry that allows massively-parallel biochemical processing and immediate POCTs. 8,20 Thus, any attack on a microfluidic valve would greatly affect the FMBs' performance, leading to low quality and even faulty diagnostics.…”

“…33,34 Another scenario where material-based attacks can become prevalent is related to intellectual property (IP) theft using reverse engineering, which can provide an attacker with information about the FMB's materials and their associated use. 20,22 After having the information about the materials and their properties via reverse engineering, the attacker can intentionally alter the material property (through material adulteration) of the reverse-engineered FMB's material components to fail the FMB and defame the legitimate FMB manufacturer.…”