{"id":135,"date":"2026-03-03T15:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/?page_id=135"},"modified":"2026-03-25T20:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:08:32","slug":"hardware-hacking-competition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/hardware-hacking-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardware Hacking Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"135\" class=\"elementor elementor-135\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5e4e369e elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5e4e369e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7201525a\" data-id=\"7201525a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;,&quot;background_motion_fx_motion_fx_scrolling&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;background_motion_fx_translateY_effect&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;background_motion_fx_translateY_speed&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:4,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;background_motion_fx_translateY_affectedRange&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;%&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:{&quot;start&quot;:0,&quot;end&quot;:100}},&quot;background_motion_fx_devices&quot;:[&quot;desktop&quot;,&quot;tablet&quot;,&quot;mobile&quot;]}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-6ca66c73 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6ca66c73\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-no\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-38edce61\" data-id=\"38edce61\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1a6b290b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1a6b290b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">AI-based Hardware Attacks (AHA!) Challenge<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-78f13099 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"78f13099\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4665c08d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4665c08d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>Use LLMs to insert stealthy Trojans and to hunt them down!<\/strong><\/h2><p>The <strong>AI-based Hardware Attacks (AHA!) Challenge<\/strong> is a hands-on Hardware Hacking Competition at IEEE HOST 2026 that explores the emerging role of <strong>Large Language Models (LLMs)<\/strong> in both attacking and defending hardware systems.<\/p><p>This competition follows a <strong>red-team \/ blue-team<\/strong> format centered on <strong>hardware Trojans<\/strong>:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Red Teams<\/strong> will use LLMs to design and insert stealthy Trojans into small benchmark circuits.<\/li><li><strong>Blue Teams<\/strong> will leverage LLMs and analysis tools to detect, localize, and reason about these malicious modifications.<\/li><\/ul><h4 dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0<\/h4><h4 id=\"gmail-docs-internal-guid-ba1ebb38-7fff-47cf-2688-88b75a67b006\" dir=\"ltr\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Competition Guidelines:<\/span><\/h4><p dir=\"ltr\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Participating teams will be tasked with using generative AI tools to first insert and exploit hardware security vulnerabilities and Trojans into a large open-source hardware project (to be announced later), then detect and suggest repairs for those vulnerabilities from other teams. This will be done in two phases, one red team (attacking) phase and one blue team (detecting\/defending) phase. Each phase will be given one week, both prior to HOST 2026, with in-person live presentations and demos to take place for the judges at HOST. Full guidelines are given below:<\/span><\/p><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Teams:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Teams must consist of up to 4 students and must have one advisor<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Phase 1 (Red Team):<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Attack challenge specifics (attack surface and any related infrastructure) will be given at the start of the phase and Phase 1 will last one week.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">All Trojans must be made by the team\u2019s generative AI system.<\/span><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Teams can manually copy\/paste the Trojans into the HDL if necessary, but the Trojan cannot be modified and any additional changes to the surrounding HDL must be dictated by the AI tool.<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">The attack phase will be judged based on both the individual Trojans inserted as well as the capabilities of the generative AI tool\/framework to design, create, and inject these Trojans.<\/span><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><br \/><\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><strong>Phase Deliverables:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Full source code for the team\u2019s Trojan insertion framework, made open-source.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Complete source code for each file with a Trojan or part of a Trojan inserted.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">A brief README detailing the design and operation of the team\u2019s framework, as well as explanations of each Trojan.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Logs for all interactions with the generative AI framework including direct prompts, thought processes (for reasoning models), inter-agent communications, etc.<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Phase 2 (Blue Team):<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">The detection\/defense phase will focus on detecting and offering corrections for Trojans inserted by the other teams in Phase 1.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Teams will receive one copy of the target hardware design for each other team containing that team\u2019s Trojans.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">All Trojan detection must be done completely using a generative AI tool or framework.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><strong>Phase Deliverables:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Full source code for the team\u2019s Trojan detection framework, made open-source.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">A README detailing the methods used by the tool or framework to detect Trojans.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Logs for all interactions with the generative AI framework including direct prompts, thought processes (for reasoning models), inter-agent communications, etc.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Details on each Trojan detected across the provided deliverables from Phase 1.<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Final Presentation:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Presentation length TBD.<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">This presentation must include a discussion of the methods used to utilize generative AI<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">The presentation must include details on the Trojans created in Phase 1<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">The presentation must include details on the Trojans detected in Phase 2<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Final Deliverables:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">The final presentation<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">A final document detailing the use of AI throughout both phases, including any design and usage docs for tools or frameworks<\/span><\/p><\/li><li dir=\"ltr\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">All AI logs for both phases<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><h4 dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Competition Webinars:<\/h4><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">March 20th at 11AM EDT via Zoom (<a href=\"https:\/\/nyu.zoom.us\/j\/91912162661\">https:\/\/nyu.zoom.us\/j\/91912162661<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p><p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">April 10th at 12:00PM EDT via Zoom (<a href=\"https:\/\/nyu.zoom.us\/j\/93391346633\">https:\/\/nyu.zoom.us\/j\/93391346633<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p><h4>Timeline:<\/h4><p><strong>April 8:<\/strong> Registration deadline<br \/><br \/><strong>April 10:<\/strong> Demo webinar, showing a basic example of using an LLM to add and detect a Trojan<br \/><br \/><strong>April 12 &#8211; 18:<\/strong> Phase 1 of the competition (red team)<br \/><br \/><strong>April 26 &#8211; May 2:<\/strong> Phase 2 (blue team)<br \/><br \/><strong>May 6:<\/strong> Demos\/presentations at HOST &amp; announcement of winners at the award ceremony<\/p><h4>Registration is now open!<\/h4><p>Interested participants are invited to sign up using the registration form below. More details about rules, benchmarks, evaluation criteria, and timelines will be released soon.<\/p><p><strong>Link to the Registration Form:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/vMmvr9WCqgkrUnUo8\">https:\/\/forms.gle\/vMmvr9WCqgkrUnUo8<\/a><\/p><p><strong>Link to the Discord Channel:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/8Ruze7SEbN\">https:\/\/discord.gg\/8Ruze7SEbN<\/a><\/p><h4>Contact Information<\/h4><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><em>Lead Organizing Team:<\/em><\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><strong>Jason Blocklove<\/strong>, New York University\u00a0&#8211; <a class=\"ms-outlook-linkify\" href=\"mailto:jason.blocklove@nyu.edu\" data-ogsc=\"\">jason.blocklove@nyu.edu<\/a><\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><strong>Weihua Xiao<\/strong>, New York University\u00a0&#8211; <a class=\"ms-outlook-linkify\" href=\"mailto:weihua.xiao@nyu.edu\" data-ogsc=\"\">weihua.xiao@nyu.edu<\/a>\u00a0<\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><strong>Ramesh Karri<\/strong>, New York University\u00a0&#8211; <a class=\"ms-outlook-linkify\" href=\"mailto:rkarri@nyu.edu\" data-ogsc=\"\">rkarri@nyu.edu<\/a><\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">\u00a0<\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><em>Hardware Hacking Competition Co-Chairs:<\/em><\/div><div><span data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><strong>Kanad Basu<\/strong>, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute &#8211; <a class=\"ms-outlook-linkify\" href=\"mailto:basuk@rpi.edu\" data-ogsc=\"\">basuk@rpi.edu<\/a><\/span><\/div><div data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><strong>Soheil Salehi<\/strong>, University of Arizona &#8211; <a class=\"ms-outlook-linkify\" href=\"mailto:ssalehi@arizona.edu\" data-ogsc=\"\">ssalehi@arizona.edu<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI-based Hardware Attacks (AHA!) Challenge Use LLMs to insert stealthy Trojans and to hunt them down! The AI-based Hardware Attacks (AHA!) Challenge is a hands-on Hardware Hacking Competition at IEEE HOST 2026 that explores the emerging role of Large Language Models (LLMs) in both attacking and defending hardware systems. This competition follows a red-team \/ [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/host.conferences.computer.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}