Enhancing an Embedded Processor Core with a Cryptographic Unit for Performance and Security

We present a set of low-cost architectural enhancements to accelerate the execution of certain arithmetic operations common in cryptographic applications on an extensible embedded processor core. The proposed enhancements are generic in the sense that they can be beneficially applied in almost any RISC processor. We implemented the enhancements in form of a cryptographic unit (CU) that offers the programmer an extended instruction set. The CU features a 128-bit wide register file and datapath, which enables it to process 128-bit words and perform 128-bit loads/stores. We analyze the speed-up factors for some arithmetic operations and public-key cryptographic algorithms obtained through these enhancements. In addition, we evaluate the hardware overhead (i.e. silicon area) of integrating the CU into an embedded RISC processor. Our experimental results show that the proposed architectural enhancements allow for a significant performance gain for both RSA and ECC at the expense of an acceptable increase in silicon area. We also demonstrate that the proposed enhancements facilitate the protection of cryptographic algorithms against certain types of side-channel attacks and present an AES implementation hardened against cache-based attacks as a case study

Secure architectures for pairing based public key cryptography

Along with the growing demand for cryptosystems in systems ranging from large servers to mobile devices, suitable cryptogrophic protocols for use under certain constraints are becoming more and more important. Constraints such as calculation time, area, efficiency and security, must be considered by the designer. Elliptic curves, since their introduction to public key cryptography in 1985 have challenged established public key and signature generation schemes such as RSA, offering more security per bit. Amongst Elliptic curve based systems, pairing based cryptographies are thoroughly researched and can be used in many public key protocols such as identity based schemes. For hardware implementions of pairing based protocols, all components which calculate operations over Elliptic curves can be considered. Designers of the pairing algorithms must choose calculation blocks and arrange the basic operations carefully so that the implementation can meet the constraints of time and hardware resource area. This thesis deals with different hardware architectures to accelerate the pairing based cryptosystems in the field of characteristic two. Using different top-level architectures the hardware efficiency of operations that run at different times is first considered in this thesis. Security is another important aspect of pairing based cryptography to be considered in practically Side Channel Analysis (SCA) attacks. The naively implemented hardware accelerators for pairing based cryptographies can be vulnerable when taking the physical analysis attacks into consideration. This thesis considered the weaknesses in pairing based public key cryptography and addresses the particular calculations in the systems that are insecure. In this case, countermeasures should be applied to protect the weak link of the implementation to improve and perfect the pairing based algorithms. Some important rules that the designers must obey to improve the security of the cryptosystems are proposed. According to these rules, three countermeasures that protect the pairing based cryptosystems against SCA attacks are applied. The implementations of the countermeasures are presented and their performances are investigated

Fault attacks and countermeasures for elliptic curve cryptosystems

In this thesis we have developed a new algorithmic countermeasures that protect elliptic curve computation by protecting computation of the finite binary extension field, against fault attacks. Firstly, we have proposed schemes, i.e., a Chinese Remainder Theorem based fault tolerant computation in finite field for use in ECCs, as well as Lagrange Interpolation based fault tolerant computation. Our approach is based on the error correcting codes, i.e., redundant residue polynomial codes and the use of first original approach of Reed-Solomon codes. Computation of the field elements is decomposed into parallel, mutually independent, modular/identical channels, so that in case of faults at one channel, errors will not distribute to other channels. Based on these schemes we have developed new algorithms, namely fault tolerant residue representation modular multiplication algorithm and fault tolerant Lagrange representation modular multiplication algorithm, which are immune against error propagation under the fault models that we propose: Random Fault Model, Arbitrary Fault Model, and Single Bit Fault Model. These algorithms provide fault tolerant computation in GF (2k) for use in ECCs. Our new developed algorithms where inputs, i.e., field elements, are represented by the redundant residue representation/ redundant lagrange representation enables us to overcome the problem if during computation one, or both coordinates x, y GF (2k) of the point P E/GF (2k) /Fk are corrupted. We assume that during each run of an attacked algorithm, in one single attack, an adversary can apply any of the proposed fault models, i.e., either Random Fault Model, or Arbitrary Fault Model, or Single Bit Fault Model. In this way more channels can be targeted, i.e., different fault models can be used on different channels. Also, our proposed algorithms can have masked errors and will not be immune against attacks which can create those kind of errors, but it is a difficult problem to counter masked errors, since any anti-fault attack scheme will have some masked errors. Moreover, we have derived conditions that inflicted error needs to have in order to yield undetectable faulty point on non-supersingular elliptic curve over GF(2k). Our algorithmic countermeasures can be applied to any public key cryptosystem that performs computation over the finite field GF (2k)

Fault attacks on RSA and elliptic curve cryptosystems

This thesis answered how a fault attack targeting software used to program EEPROM can threaten hardware devices, for instance IoT devices. The successful fault attacks proposed in this thesis will certainly warn designers of hardware devices of the security risks their devices may face on the programming leve

Efficient Doubling on Genus Two Curves over Binary Fields

In most algorithms involving elliptic and hyperelliptic curves, the costliest part consists in computing multiples of ideal classes. This paper investigates how to compute faster doubling over fields of characteristic two. We derive explicit doubling formulae making strong use of the defining equation of the curve. We analyze how many field operations are needed depending on the curve making clear how much generality one loses by the respective choices. Note, that none of the proposed types is known to be weak – one only could be suspicious because of the more special types. Our results allow to choose curves from a large enough variety which have extremely fast doubling needing only half the time of an addition. Combined with a sliding window method this leads to fast computation of scalar multiples. We also speed up the general case

A dynamic study with side channel against An Identification Based Encryption

Recently, the side channel keeps the attention of researchers in theory of pairing, since, several studies have been done in this subject and all them have the aim in order to attack the cryptosystems of Identification Based Encryption (IBE) which are integrate into smart cards (more than 80% of those cryptosystems are based on a pairing). The great success and the remarkable development of the cryptography IBE in the recent years and the direct connection of this success to the ability of resistance against any kind of attack, especially the DPA and DFA attacks, leave us to browse saying all the studies of the DPA and DFA attacks applied to a pairing and we have observed that they have no great effect to attack the cryptosystems of IBE. That’s what we will see in this paper. In this work we will illuminate the effect of the DPA attack on a cryptosystems of IBE and we would see on what level we can arrive. Thus in the case where this attack can influence on those cryptosystems, we can present an appropriate counter measures to resist such attack. In the other part we will also propose a convenient counter-measure to defend the attack DFA when the embedding degree is eve

A Comparison of Cryptographic Methods

While elliptic curve cryptography and quantum cryptography are significantly different branches of cryptography, they provide a suitable reference point for comparison of the value of developing methods used in the present and investing in methods to be used in the future. Elliptic curve cryptography is quite common today, as it is generally secure and efficient. However, as the field of cryptography advances, the value of quantum cryptography’s inherent security from its basic properties should be considered, as a fully realized quantum cryptosystem has the potential to be quite powerful. Ultimately, it is of critical importance to determine the value of investing in strengthening current cryptosystems in comparison to seeking to accelerate the development of new ones. While both are of importance, the question should be asked if one avenue of development will be more effective overall

Algorithms and cryptographic protocols using elliptic curves

En els darrers anys, la criptografia amb corbes el.líptiques ha adquirit una importància creixent, fins a arribar a formar part en la actualitat de diferents estàndards industrials. Tot i que s'han dissenyat variants amb corbes el.líptiques de criptosistemes clàssics, com el RSA, el seu màxim interès rau en la seva aplicació en criptosistemes basats en el Problema del Logaritme Discret, com els de tipus ElGamal. En aquest cas, els criptosistemes el.líptics garanteixen la mateixa seguretat que els construïts sobre el grup multiplicatiu d'un cos finit primer, però amb longituds de clau molt menor. Mostrarem, doncs, les bones propietats d'aquests criptosistemes, així com els requeriments bàsics per a que una corba sigui criptogràficament útil, estretament relacionat amb la seva cardinalitat. Revisarem alguns mètodes que permetin descartar corbes no criptogràficament útils, així com altres que permetin obtenir corbes bones a partir d'una de donada. Finalment, descriurem algunes aplicacions, com són el seu ús en Targes Intel.ligents i sistemes RFID, per concloure amb alguns avenços recents en aquest camp.The relevance of elliptic curve cryptography has grown in recent years, and today represents a cornerstone in many industrial standards. Although elliptic curve variants of classical cryptosystems such as RSA exist, the full potential of elliptic curve cryptography is displayed in cryptosystems based on the Discrete Logarithm Problem, such as ElGamal. For these, elliptic curve cryptosystems guarantee the same security levels as their finite field analogues, with the additional advantage of using significantly smaller key sizes. In this report we show the positive properties of elliptic curve cryptosystems, and the requirements a curve must meet to be useful in this context, closely related to the number of points. We survey methods to discard cryptographically uninteresting curves as well as methods to obtain other useful curves from a given one. We then describe some real world applications such as Smart Cards and RFID systems and conclude with a snapshot of recent developments in the field