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This chip self-destructs on command in ten seconds

Catwell

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Made out of Gorilla Glass, the chip obliterates itself. This new chip shatters into thousands of pieces under extreme stress. (via Xerox PARC, pic via IDG.tv)


I was just thinking, there has to be a way to store data that will self-destruct upon access. Seems we are close to it.

 

The latest development from Xerox PARC engineers is a device straight out of a James Bond film. The team has created a chip that can explode into bits on command as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Vanishing Programmable Resources project. How does the chip get this shattering effect? It was made using Gorilla Glass, supposed used for smart phone screens, instead of plastic and metal. The glass was then modified to become tempered glass under extreme stress, which will case it to easily disintegrated when triggered.

 

In a demonstration, the chip reached breaking point by heat. A small resistor heated up and the glass shattered into a ton of tiny pieces. Even after it broke, the small fragments continued to break into even smaller pieces for tens of seconds afterward.

 

Is the chip supposed to just look cool? Even though the result is awesome, the chip can actually be a great security measure. It could be used to store sensitive data like encryption keys and can shatter into so many pieces it becomes impossible to reconstruct it. It's a pretty intense way to deal with electronic security, but it's a viable option if it happens to fall into the wrong hands.

 

The self-destructible chip was demonstrated in all its glory at DARPA's Wait, What? Event in St. Louis last week.

 

“The applications we are interested in are data security and things like that,” said Gregory Whiting, a senior scientist at PARC in Palo Alto, California. “We really wanted to come up with a system that was very rapid and compatible with commercial electronics.”

 

With so much information being stored electronically, more and more companies are employing similar techniques for security. Similar technology is used for Snapchat, which lets users send images to friends for a short amount of time before the message can no longer be accessed. And Gmail recently introduced the “Undo Send” feature that allows people to cancel sent emails, but it's limited to 30 messages. Now, if only we could make our phones explode when they get stolen.

 

PARC is a Xeorx company that provides tech services, expertise, and intellectual property to various companies including Fortune 500 businesses, startups, and government agencies.


 

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