Dynamic Laser Fault Injection Aided by Quiescent Photon Emissions in Embedded Microcontrollers: Apparatus, Methodology and Attacks

Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more integrated in our daily life with the increasing number of embedded electronic devices interacting together. These electronic devices are often controlled by a Micro-Controller Unit (MCU). As an example, it is estimated that today’s well-equipped automobile uses more than 50 MCUs. Some MCUs contain cryptographic co-processors to enhance the security of the exchanged and stored data with a common belief that the data is secured and safe. However many MCUs have been shown to be vulnerable to Fault Injection (FI) attacks. These attacks can reveal shared secrets, firmware, and other confidential information. In addition, this extracted information obtained by attacks can lead to identification of new vulnerabilities which may scale to attacks on many devices. In general, FI on MCUs corrupt data or corrupt instructions. Although it is assumed that only authorized personnel with access to cryptographic secrets will gain access to confidential information in MCUs, attackers in specialized labs nowadays may have access to high-tech equipment which could be used to attack these MCUs. Laser Fault Injection (LFI) is gaining more of a reputation for its ability to inject local faults rather than global ones due to its precision, thus providing a greater risk of breaking security in many devices. Although publications have generally discussed the topic of security of MCUs, attack techniques are diverse and published LFI provides few and superficial details about the used experimental setup and methodology. Furthermore, limited research has examined the combination of both LFI and Photo-Emission Microscopy (PEM), direct modification of instructions using the LFI, control of embedded processor resets using LFI, and countermeasures which simultaneously thwart other aspects including decapsulation and reverse engineering (RE). This thesis contributes to the study of the MCUs’ security by analyzing their susceptibility to LFI attacks and PEM. The proposed research aims to build a LFI bench from scratch allowing maximum control of laser parameters. In addition, a methodology for analysis of the Device Under Attack (DUA) in preparation for LFI is proposed, including frontside/backside decapsulation methods, and visualization of the structure of the DUA. Analysis of attack viability of different targets on the DUA, including One-Time Programmable (OTP) memory, Flash memory and Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) was performed. A realistic attack of a cryptographic algorithm, such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) using LFI was conducted. On the other hand, countermeasures to the proposed attack techniques, including decapsulation/RE, LFI and PEM, were discussed. This dissertation provides a summary for the necessary background and experimental setup to study the possibility of LFI and PEM in different DUAs of two different technologies, specifically PIC16F687 and ARM Cortex-M0 LPC1114FN28102. Attacks performed on on-chip peripherals such as Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) and debug circuity reveal new vulnerabilities. This research is important for understanding attacks in order to design countermeasures for securing future hardware

Impeccable Circuits

By injecting faults, active physical attacks pose serious threats to cryptographic hardware where Concurrent Error Detection (CED) schemes are promising countermeasures. They are usually based on an Error-Detecting Code (EDC) which enables detecting certain injected faults depending on the specification of the underlying code. Here, we propose a methodology to enable correct, practical, and robust implementation of code-based CEDs. We show that straightforward hardware implementations of given code-based CEDs can suffer from severe vulnerabilities, not providing the desired protection level. In particular, propagation of faults into combinatorial logic is often ignored in security evaluation of these schemes. First, we formally define this detrimental effect and demonstrate its destructive impact. Second, we introduce an implementation strategy to limit the fault propagation effect. Third, in contrast to many other works where the fault coverage is the main focus, we present a detailed implementation strategy which can guarantee the detection of any fault covered by the underlying EDC. This holds for any time of the computation and any location in the circuit, both in data processing and control unit. In short, we provide practical guidelines how to construct efficient CED schemes with arbitrary EDCs to achieve the desired protection level. We practically evaluate the efficiency of our methodology by case studies covering different symmetric block ciphers and various linear EDCs

7th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - SIE 2018, PROCEEDINGS

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

7th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - SIE 2018, PROCEEDINGS

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

TRASH TO TREASURE: HARNESSING THE POWER OF AGRICULTURAL WASTES FOR GENERATING CLEANER WATER

The increase in global population has resulted in the escalating demand in food production, contributing to vast amounts of different agricultural waste. Their accumulation and unsustainable disposal practices can lead to serious environmental challenges. Agricultural run-offs contribute greatly to surface water pollution, therefore, meeting global food demand while protecting water quality and the environment are the key global challenges. One of the groups of pollutants of concern in the run-offs are the residual antibiotics and their presence or persistence in the environment is posing significant threats to human life. The available efforts have not achieved significant removal of residual antibiotics in wastewater, especially when ligno-cellulosic agricultural wastes have been deployed as alternative low-cost material. Therefore, the study herein focuses on the use of mahogany, an agricultural waste, for the removal of antibiotics (e.g., rifampicin) from water. The release of rifampicin to aqueous media urgently requires an effective alternative water treatment process, as the priority pathogens such as mycobacterium tuberculosis are becoming resistant to this class of antibiotic. The sawdust was dried and ground to produce particles with sizes ranging from 38 to 850 before undergoing a treatment with 2 M sulphuric acid. The concentration of rifampicin in aqueous solutions was measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer operating at wavelength of 333 nm. The adsorption experiments were conducted using a solution of rifampicin with 20 µg/mL concentration. The adsorption of antibiotic on untreated and treated mahogany sawdust had lowered the concentration of rifampicin in water by 16% and 39%, respectively, within 20 minutes of its contact with the particles the adsorbent. The removal rate of rifampicin by treated sawdust was doubled, which can be attributed to impact of sulphuric acid during the treatment process. This recent study demonstrated that the waste material was effective for the adsorption of rifampicin from water

A Low-cost Material for the Adsorption of Antibiotics

Pharmaceutical pollutants are emerging contaminants that pose significant risk to human health and environment. Their mode of action and persistence in the environment makes them a major concern. The presence of these compounds in the environment has led to the degradation of surface and sub-surface water quality, affecting the health of living organisms. The conventional water techniques for the elimination of pollutants have several drawbacks such as high operational costs, formation of by-products and poor reusability. Conversely, adsorption technique can be considered as a preferred choice due to its simple design, ease of operation, adaptability, efficiency and low costs. The aim of this study is to develop and apply an eco-friendly, readily available, and low-cost adsorbent for the removal of vancomycin. The choice of this antibiotic can be justified by its occurrence in wastewaters, with detection limits of 100.0 - 246.6 ng/l, and been listed on the WHO priority list of antibiotic resistance. For this study, the sawdust was blended and sieved into various particle sizes varying from 90 to 850 µm. The sawdust was treated with 2M sulfuric acid for 24 hours at room temperature and washed with distilled water several times until the neutral pH of washings. The selected sawdust fraction with 180 – 250 µm particles sizes was analyzed using a range of instrumentation techniques. The characteristics of thesawdust such as zeta potential, pH point zero charge, surface morphology, functional groups, specific surface area and pores volume were determined. The impact of operational parameters, including contact time, pH, temperature, and the initial concentration of the antibiotic on its adsorption on sawdust was evaluated using HPLC. The result of this study demonstrates how different adsorption parameters influence the adsorption of vancomycin on treated sawdust particles

Continuing professional development - challenge for professional organization

Professions, as one of key sectors of social systems, bear a leading role in the existing social work organization. Free professions take up a special place and significance, all the way from Roman artes liberales to our times. Pharmaceutical profession, as one of the oldest, led by ethical principles, is regulated by postulates accepted by the profession members, and in modern times established through legislations. Typical determinants of the regulated professions, which also refer to pharmacists, as chamber members, are as follows: following ethical principles, specific skills and knowledge, professional development, autonomy at work, continuing improvement, competencies development, professional associations, licensing