CHES Challenge
Since 2015, a crypto-engineering challenge is organized every year in cooperation with CHES. Former editions have focused on practical side-channel attacks, design of countermeasures, deep learning-based attacks, hardware security and white-box cryptography. This year HACK@CHES is back for a new edition.
HACK@CHES’26: Hardware Security Meets AI Innovation
HACK@CHES’26 returns with expanded industry collaborations, new real-world hardware vulnerability challenges, and dedicated AI-focused evaluation tracks. Building on the success of previous HackTheSilicon competitions, this year’s edition brings together researchers, engineers, students, and security professionals from around the world to advance the state of the art in hardware security research.
HACK@CHES’26 challenges participants to identify, exploit, and mitigate vulnerabilities in a deliberately vulnerable OpenTitan-based SoC platform.
This year, HACK@CHES’26 is proud to collaborate with lowRISC and OpenTitan, enabling the competition to incorporate realistic security challenges inspired by real-world hardware development and deployment.
A major focus of the 2026 edition is the systematic evaluation of AI-driven security analysis techniques. Participants are encouraged to use large language models (LLMs), machine learning methods, and automated analysis frameworks for vulnerability discovery, exploit generation, and mitigation development.
Who will dominate the future of hardware security?
Humans, machines, or the Hybrids?
To explore this question, dedicated AI evaluation tracks will benchmark both human-driven and AI-assisted approaches across:
- Efficiency: speed, scalability, and automation
- Accuracy: correctness, robustness, and reliability
Participants will analyze RTL and firmware components, identify vulnerabilities, develop proof-of-concept exploits, and propose effective mitigation strategies.
Competition Structure
Phase 1: Online Qualification Round
May 2026 – July 2026
All registered teams will remotely analyze the provided OpenTitan-based SoC platform and submit:
- Vulnerability reports
- Exploit demonstrations
- Mitigation strategies and patches
Phase 2: On-Site Finals at CHES 2026
October 11–15, 2026
Top-performing teams from the qualification round will advance to the live final round held during CHES 2026, where they will:
- Analyze a new vulnerable hardware design
- Demonstrate advanced exploitation techniques
- Validate mitigation strategies
- Present and defend their findings before experts and organizers
The top three teams will receive travel grants of up to €1500 and a dedicated presentation slot at CHES 2026 to showcase their work to leading experts from academia and industry.
HACK@CHES’26 is more than a competition; it is a live experiment at the frontier of hardware security and artificial intelligence.
Are you ready to save the silicon?
For more information, competition details, and registration updates, please visit:
