The goal of the UNIQUE project is to tackle the problem of counterfeiting of and tampering with Integrated Circuits (ICs). Since ICs are at the core of modern and often critical electronics products and IT systems it is very important that their integrity can be guaranteed. We will develop an integrated approach to protect hardware systems against counterfeiting, cloning, reverse engineering, tampering, and insertion of malicious components. The technical focus within UNIQUE is on the development of new hardware based security functionality for hardware systems and components in general but in particular for those ICs and hardware components that provide cryptographic and security services (e.g. cryptographic co-processors, smartcards) within modern IT and communication systems. These new components can be used as security anchors in the devices they are embedded in. ICs equipped with these security anchors are referred to as "security hardware". In order to address the IC counterfeiting and tampering problem comprehensively, we aim at investigating and developing a complete solution by covering all aspects starting from hardware-based crypto, security building blocks, security architectures, protocols and algorithms to system design and evaluation principles required to detect counterfeiting of or malicious components embedded in hardware. Finally, the feasibility of the developed concepts will be shown in a prototype.