Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary

Side-Channel Aware Engineering

Project description

Side-channel analysis on in-memory computing for reverse engineering

Side-channel analysis (SCA) is a cryptanalytic technique that targets the implementation of a cryptographic primitive. Examples of channels include power consumption, electromagnetic radiation, acoustic emanations and various timings. The EU-funded SCARE project will work to develop a new generation of SCA that extends to full-fledged end-to-end attacks. It will identify specific vulnerabilities in widely deployed cryptography software libraries such as OpenSSL and hardware-assisted security technologies such as trusted execution environments. Delivering a new methodology for SCA security assurance, it will introduce a non-invasive approach to reverse engineering that exploits SCA to extract IP implemented in emerging in-memory computing.

Objective

"As the recent ""HeartBleed"" bug in OpenSSL demonstrates, the security of cryptographic software and devices cannot be understated. They build the foundation for basic security guarantees such as confidentiality and authentication, enabling technologies such as secure communication. For example, Transport Layer Security enables e-commerce, a 1.9 trillion USD global industry in 2016.

The more modern trend, especially in the embedded space, is towards hardware-assisted security. Here the aim is to leverage hardware to accomplish security goals that are simply unrealistic in software-only solutions. One example is Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) that provide a secure sandbox to execute security-critical software. TEEs, often driven by ARM TrustZone Technology, are present in the majority of smartphones on the market today.

Side-channel analysis (SCA) is a cryptanalytic technique that targets not the formal description of a cryptographic primitive but the implementation of it. Examples of side-channels include power consumption, electro-magnetic radiation, acoustic emanations, and various timings. Attackers then use this auxiliary signal to recover critical algorithm state and, in combination with cryptanalytic techniques, secret key material. This is a young but very active field within security and cryptography stemming from covert channels.

SCA is the focus of SCARE. Objectives include the discovery of next generation covert channels, paving the way for novel SCA classes, and extending these to full-fledged end-to-end SCA attacks by identifying specific vulnerabilities in widely-deployed cryptography software libraries such as OpenSSL and hardware-assisted security technologies such as TEEs. In turn, SCARE will deliver a methodology for SCA security assurance: not just development, evaluation, and deployment of acute countermeasures, but bringing SCA into the product life cycle as part of continuous integration."

Host institution

TAMPEREEN KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Net EU contribution
€ 1 499 950,00
Address
KALEVANTIE 4
33100 Tampere
Finland

See on map

Region
Manner-Suomi Länsi-Suomi Pirkanmaa
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 499 950,00

Beneficiaries (1)