Survey on Hardware Security: PUFs, Trojans, and Side-Channel Attacks

The increasing reliance on hardware technologies across critical sectors such as healthcare, defense, automotive, and finance has raised awareness of vulnerabilities in these systems. Threats like hardware Trojans (HTs), side-channel attacks (SCAs), and cloning compromise data security, disrupt operations and jeopardize trust in interconnected systems. Addressing these risks requires robust hardware security mechanisms.This survey provides a comprehensive analysis of advancements in hardware security, focusing on Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs), hardware Trojan detection techniques, and defenses against side-channel attacks. PUFs leverage manufacturing variations for device-specific authentication and cryptographic key generation. Hardware Trojan detection mitigates malicious modifications in integrated circuits, while side-channel defenses counteract attacks exploiting information leakage like power consumption and electromagnetic emissions. A novel AI-driven hybrid PUF model is proposed to address environmental variability, machine learning-based modeling attacks, and scalability challenges.Drawing from recent studies, this paper categorizes threats, explores detection methodologies, and evaluates lightweight security protocols for resource-constrained environments like IoT devices. Emphasizing machine learning-enhanced detection, hybrid cryptographic techniques, and dynamic PUF designs, it highlights innovations for enhancing hardware security. Future directions include quantum-resilient architectures, energy-efficient implementations, and scalable regulatory frameworks, offering a roadmap to secure next-generation hardware systems against evolving threats.