PDF Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDFS), a leading provider of comprehensive data solutions for the semiconductor and electronics ecosystems is pleased to announced that PDF Solutions’ Richard Howard, Director of Technical Operations, Cimetrix Connectivity Group, was among the leaders of the SEMI Fab & Equipment Computing Device Security (CDS) Task Force awarded the SEMI International Standards Excellence Award, along with his co-leaders on the SEMI Fab & Equipment Computing Device Security (CDS) Task Force (Leon Chang of TSMC, Ares Cho from ITRI and Ryan Bond of Intel). The award was announced at SEMICON West.
This award recognizes years of involvement and leadership by Richard Howard in the development of new Semiconductor industry standards, in particular in the area of cybersecurity. Recognizing the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures, SEMI’s International Standards Information & Control Committees in Taiwan, Japan, and North America formed task forces in the fall of 2018 to investigate the feasibility and implementation of standards to address these threats. Over the years, the task forces worked diligently through regular meetings to coordinate efforts and eliminate redundancies. As a direct result of this work, SEMI recently published its first two Cybersecurity Standards.
One of these two standards came directly from the work of the Taiwan Task Force, which focused on SEMI Draft Document 6506 New Standard: Specification for Cyber Security of Fab Equipment. This standard aims to eliminate vulnerabilities exploited in external and network attacks. This eventually became the SEMI E187-0122 standard, officially ratified and published in February 2022.
The other standard comes from the work of the North American Task Force, led by Mr. Howard from PDF Solutions and Ryan Bond of Intel, which collaborated with the Japan Task Force and SEMI Standards members from Asia, Europe, and North America to develop SEMI Draft Document 6566 New Standard: Specification for Malware Free Equipment Integration. This standard is designed to prevent the introduction of malware into a facility during installation, integration, or service. This eventually became SEMI E188-0222 standard published in February 2022.
“We are extremely proud of the work of Richard Howard,” said John Kibarian, PDF Solutions’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “These standards are a critical step toward safeguarding the semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure from the growing threat landscape. Through the dedicated efforts of the leadership of these task forces, and SEMI Standards members, there is a robust framework designed to enhance cybersecurity practices across the industry.”
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