Internet Security Group: Side Channel Cryptanalysis

Security Protocols are designed to guarantee the privacy and integrity
of information exchanged over an open communication network against
malicious adversaries on the network. Typcially, a crucial assumption
in the deployment of these protocols is that the entities are in
possession of cryptographic tokens such as smart cards. Cryptanalytic
techniques such as TEMPEST and power analysis try to attack the
security guarantees of such tokens. They exploit information leaked
during computation such as power consumption characteristics/EMF
emanations to infer details of computations and cryptographic secrets
stored in these tokens.

While side channel cryptanalysis attacks affect a variety of systems,
current generation smart cards are especially vulnerable as they
depend on an external source for their power consumption and provide
minimal shielding. Several smart cards available in the market today
are susceptible to these attacks. The attacks have had a crippling
effect on the smart card industry.

Our group has done work in exploring side channel leakage from both
power and more recently from EMF. The following links provide these
details:

• Power Analysis


• Electromagnetic Analysis