Counterfeiters, beware. Ujjwal Guin has you in his sights.

No, he’s not a member of the Secret Service, which is responsible for investigating counterfeit currency. He’s an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and the focus of his research is how to detect counterfeit integrated circuits and prevent them from being used in electronic devices sold around the globe.

Counterfeit and cloned electronics deprive legitimate companies of billions of dollars of revenue each year.

These electronics also hurt consumers because the components are not as reliable as authentic ones and may not even work in some cases. That’s where Guin’s expertise comes into play.

“One aspect of my work is with the Charles D. McCrary Institute for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Cyber Systems to develop test infrastructures to detect and prevent counterfeit integrated circuits from getting into the supply chain,” says Guin, who co-authored a book titled “Counterfeit Integrated Circuits – Detection and Avoidance.”

Guin has also developed on-chip structures and techniques to improve the security, trustworthiness and reliability of integrated circuits. His research interests include hardware and supply chain security, internet of things, cybersecurity and very-large-scale integration design and testing.

Cisco predicts that by 2020 there will be 20-50 billion electronic devices with internet connectivity, Guin says. Without solutions such as those being developed at Auburn, the counterfeiting problem will only worsen.

As our lives become more connected with electronics, Guin and his colleagues within the college are working to ensure that retailers and consumers can trust the electronic components available in the supply chain.