After the departure of foreign suppliers, Russian specialists faced the problem of access to equipment for analyzing microchip security. The solution was presented by Positive Labs R&D center of Positive Technologies, which developed the first laser complex in Russia for microelectronics security research.
The new system was named LFI-26 (Laser Fault Injection). Until 2022, Russian companies purchased similar solutions from the French company ALPhANOV and the Dutch company Riscure. No universal complexes of this class were produced domestically.
The technology allows controlled failures in microchips to be induced with directed laser exposure with microsecond precision. This helps specialists identify vulnerabilities in device hardware protection. Such studies are used to test chips for bank cards, ATMs, crypto wallets, smartphones, IoT equipment, automotive electronics, and even spacecraft.
At first glance, it might seem that this is a tool for hacking. In practice, such complexes are used for the opposite task — finding weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. The earlier a vulnerability is discovered at the microchip level, the cheaper and easier it is to fix.
According to Alexey Usanov, head of Positive Labs R&D center, their own complex was necessary to maintain competencies in hardware security and independent analysis of both foreign and domestic chips.
LFI-26 became part of the Positive Labs research equipment line, which also includes the electromagnetic interference complexes EMFI-26 and the side-channel analysis system EMSCA-26.