Side channel attack analysis and countermeasure development
Side-channel attacks (SCAs) are a category of security exploits that aim at retrieving sensible information, such as a cryptographic key, by measuring secondary, unintentional channels of information transmissions from a physical device. To perform SCAs, an attacker typically collects a set of data measuring the target device and relies on a variety of statistical techniques for analysis, as well as fully data driven approaches (e.g., machine learning). The aim of this research work is to achieve a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of processing units and create specific countermeasures against them. Creating new models allows us to obtain a better knowledge of their side channel behaviour and mitigates the lack of proper countermeasures for the target devices. Finally, in this work we aim to design these custom protections to mitigate the vulnerabilities detected with more efficient and less expensive countermeasures. The implementations of these countermeasures will be tested and evaluated to present proof of their effectiveness.
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