INV-21069
Background:
In cryptography, the challenge of defending digital systems against side channel attacks—where attackers gain sensitive information from a system's physical operations—remains significant. These attacks exploit variations in power consumption that occur during the use of a cryptographic key, revealing critical data. Existing defenses often fall short, failing to effectively obscure the link between key usage and power consumption patterns. This vulnerability exposes systems to attackers who employ advanced statistical techniques to uncover secret information, thereby undermining the security and integrity of cryptographic engines. The inadequacy of traditional measures to mask these correlations results in a persistent threat to digital security, highlighting a pressing need for more robust and efficient protection methods.
Description:
Northeastern researchers have developed a Power Obfuscation Switched Capacitor (POSC) DC-DC converter to shield cryptographic engines from side-channel attacks, specifically correlation power analysis (CPA). This converter introduces an additional switching phase, where charge is transferred between capacitors which are equalized to ensure a consistent power draw, thus masking any power consumption patterns related to secret key operations. This approach effectively conceals any statistical patterns in power usage that attackers could exploit, enhancing the security of cryptographic units. In testing, the POSC converter has proven to significantly increase the difficulty of compromising an AES unit via CPA, requiring up to 50 times more power traces than usual for a breach. Despite a slight decrease in efficiency to 77%, compared to traditional converters at 90%, the enhanced security it offers makes it a valuable option for applications where safeguarding data is critical.
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