Software countermeasures for control flow integrity of smart card C codes

International audienceFault attacks can target smart card programs in order to disrupt an execution and gain an advantage over the data or the embedded functionalities. Among all possible attacks, control flow attacks aim at disrupting the normal execution flow. Identifying harmful control flow attacks as well as designing countermeasures at software level are tedious and tricky for developers. In this paper, we propose a methodology to detect harmful intra-procedural jump attacks at source code level and to automatically inject formally-proven countermeasures. The proposed software countermeasures defeat 100% of attacks that jump over at least two C source code statements or beyond. Experiments show that the resulting code is also hardened against unexpected function calls and jump attacks at assembly level

Structural, thermal, elastic, and magnetoelectronic properties of FeNiMnZ (Z = Al, Si) quaternary Heuslers under hydrostatic pressure

In this work, we have studied the structural, thermal, elastic and magnetoelectronic properties of FeNiMnZ (Z = Al, Si) Heuslers under pressure using the pseudo-potential plane wave method. The structural optimization was performed by considering three atomic arrangements in magnetic and non-magnetic states. It was found that FeNiMnZ Heuslers are chemically stable and crystallize in the ferromagnetic YI-type structure. At zero temperature (0 K) and zero pressure (0 GPa), the obtained lattice constant (a) and bulk modulus (B) are in good accordance with the literature. The determined elastic constants (Cij), Pugh’s ratio (B/G), and universal elastic anisotropy index (AU) under pressure reveal that FeNiMnZ Heuslers are mechanically stable up to 76 GPa, behave in a ductile manner, and exhibit a notable elastic anisotropy, respectively. The band structure analysis shows that FeNiMnAl Heusler compound changes from perfect half-metallic to a metallic nature at 50.2 GPa, while FeNiMnSi Heusler compound keeps its metallicity throughout the considered pressure range. The spin polarization and total magnetic moment of FeNiMnAl (FeNiMnSi) material decrease under pressure varying from 50.2 to 88 GPa (from 0 to 80 GPa). Below 50.2 GPa, FeNiMnAl material exhibits 100% spin polarization and a total magnetic moment of 4μB, which makes it hopeful in spintronic applications

Electromagnetic Activity vs. Logical Activity: Near Field Scans for Reverse Engineering

International audienceElectromagnetic Near Field Scanning has formerly been proposed to guide side channel and fault injection attacks. However very few studies support its use for reverse-engineering. This absence could be explained by difficulties linked to the diffusion of currents in the power supply network, which are the root of EM radiations. This diffusion has for consequence that a local electrical activity in an IC can be observed quite far from its origin point, thus limiting the interest of EM near field scans for reverse engineering. This paper proposes a solution to this problem by describing a method to extract the source areas of an IC where electrical activity is occurring from EM near field scans. Experimental results are given for an ARM based microcontroller designed in a 90 nm process

Automatic Application of Software Countermeasures Against Physical Attacks

International audienceWhile the number of embedded systems is continuously increasing, securing software against physical attacks is costly and error-prone. Several works proposed solutions that automatically insert protections against these attacks in order to reduce this cost and this risk of error. In this chapter, we present a survey of existing approaches and classify them by the level at which they apply the countermeasure. We consider three different levels: the source code level, the compilation level, and the assembly/binary level. We explain the advantages and disadvantages of each level considering different criteria. Finally, we encourage future works to take compilation into account when designing tools, to consider the problem of combining countermeasures, as well as the interactions between countermeasures and compiler optimisations. Going one step further, we encourage future works to imagine how compilation could be modified or redesigned to optimise both performance and security

Abstracts of 1st International Conference on Computational & Applied Physics

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at the International Conference on Computational & Applied Physics (ICCAP’2021) Organized by the Surfaces, Interfaces and Thin Films Laboratory (LASICOM), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University Saad Dahleb Blida 1, Algeria, held on 26–28 September 2021. The Conference had a variety of Plenary Lectures, Oral sessions, and E-Poster Presentations. Conference Title: 1st International Conference on Computational & Applied PhysicsConference Acronym: ICCAP’2021Conference Date: 26–28 September 2021Conference Location: Online (Virtual Conference)Conference Organizer: Surfaces, Interfaces, and Thin Films Laboratory (LASICOM), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University Saad Dahleb Blida 1, Algeria