Secure Silicon: Towards Virtual Prototyping

Evaluating security vulnerabilities of software implementations at design step is of primary importance for applications developers, while it has received litte attention from scientific communauty. In this paper, we describe virtual prototyping of an implementation of Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), aiming to make it secure against first-order horizontal and vertical side-channel attacks (SCAs). Reproducing information leakage as close to reality as possible requires bit- and clock-cycle accuracy, we got with Mentor Graphics Modelsim tool, simulating the execution of the ECC software implementations on PULPino, an open-source 32-bit microcontroller based on the recently released RISC-V instruction set architecture. For each clock cycle, we compute the number of bit toggles into microcontroller's registers, an image of the power consumption, and watch the program counter to identify the assembly instruction executed, then the corresponding C function. We first start with a naive double-and-add implementation relying on cryptographic primitives of the mbed TLS library, formerly PolarSSL before acquisition by ARM. The virtual analysis pinpoints differences in the way the double function on one side and the add function on the other side manage variables and internal operations, which can be used for horizontal SCAs. We propose some modifications of the C code, hence independent of the considered microcontroller, with an overhead extremely small compared to that of the double-and-add-always countermeasure. Then, we reiterate analyses, still for the mbed TLS library, but using the regular Montgomery ladder version, most used in practice as more efficient

Understanding Systemic Risk: The Trade-Offs between Capital, Short-Term Funding and Liquid Asset Holdings

We offer a multi-period systemic risk assessment framework with which to assess recent liquidity and capital regulatory requirement proposals in a holistic way. Following Morris and Shin (2009), we introduce funding liquidity risk as an endogenous outcome of the interaction between market liquidity risk, solvency risk, and the funding structure of banks. To assess the overall impact of different mix of capital and liquidity, we simulate the framework under a severe but plausible macro scenario for different balance-sheet structures. Of particular interest, we find that (1) capital has a decreasing marginal effect on systemic risk, (2) increasing capital alone is much less effective in reducing liquidity risk than solvency risk, (3) high liquid asset holdings reduce the marginal effect of increasing short term liability on systemic risk, and (4) changing liquid asset holdings has little effect on systemic risk when short term liability is sufficiently low.Financial stability; Financial system regulation and policies

Macroprudential Regulation and Systemic Capital Requirements

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, there is interest in reforming bank regulation such that capital requirements are more closely linked to a bank's contribution to the overall risk of the financial system. In our paper we compare alternative mechanisms for allocating the overall risk of a banking system to its member banks. Overall risk is estimated using a model that explicitly incorporates contagion externalities present in the financial system. We have access to a unique data set of the Canadian banking system, which includes individual banks' risk exposures as well as detailed information on interbank linkages including OTC derivatives. We find that systemic capital allocations can differ by as much as 50% from 2008Q2 capital levels and are not related in a simple way to bank size or individual bank default probability. Systemic capital allocation mechanisms reduce default probabilities of individual banks as well as the probability of a systemic crisis by about 25%. Our results suggest that financial stability can be enhanced substantially by implementing a systemic perspective on bank regulation.Financial stability

The impact of the luxury influencer's background and story on women's luxury purchase intention and conscientiousness as a moderator

The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether the background and story of luxury influencers affect women's luxury items purchase intention, while taking the conscientiousness personality trait into consideration. Conscientiousness is addressed in this thesis since research demonstrates that conscientiousness individuals are self-disciplined and hence less likely to engage with luxury items. The influencer identification, purchase intention, and conscientiousness scale were measured and used to better assess the effect of the background and influencer story on purchase intention. An online survey was conducted to gather information, and 86 valid answers were received. The current research demonstrated no significant impact of the background and stories of luxury influencers on customers' purchasing intentions for luxury items. Besides, results demonstrated that consumer conscientiousness did not moderate the effect between the backgrounds of luxury influencers and their impact on customers' purchase intention for luxury product. By examining a new approach, this thesis contributes to academic knowledge and management decision-making by improving our understanding of the impact of influencers' stories and their ability to engage consumers and influence their purchase intention in the emerging luxury market, as well as by providing a deeper understanding of the role of conscientiousness as a personality trait in the purchase decision.O objectivo desta tese é determinar se os antecedentes e a história dos influenciadores de luxo afectam a intenção de compra de artigos de luxo das mulheres, tendo em consideração o traço de personalidade conscienciosidade. A conscienciosidade é abordada nesta tese, uma vez que a investigação demonstra que os indivíduos conscienciosos são autodisciplinados e, por conseguinte, menos susceptíveis de se envolverem com artigos de luxo. A identificação do influenciador, a intenção de compra e a escala de conscienciosidade foram medidas e utilizadas para avaliar melhor o efeito dos antecedentes e da história do influenciador na intenção de compra. Foi realizado um inquérito online para recolher informações, tendo sido recebidas 86 respostas válidas. A presente investigação não demonstrou qualquer impacto significativo dos antecedentes e das histórias dos influenciadores de luxo nas intenções de compra de artigos de luxo por parte dos clientes. Além disso, os resultados demonstraram que a conscienciosidade do consumidor não moderou o efeito entre os antecedentes dos influenciadores de luxo e o seu impacto na intenção de compra de produtos de luxo por parte dos clientes. Ao investigar uma nova abordagem, esta tese contribui para o conhecimento académico e para a tomada de decisões de gestão, melhorando a nossa compreensão do impacto das histórias dos influenciadores e da sua capacidade de envolver os consumidores e influenciar a sua intenção de compra no mercado de luxo emergente, bem como proporcionando uma compreensão mais profunda do papel da conscienciosidade como traço de personalidade na decisão de compra

A Comparative Analysis Between The Balanced Scorecard And The French Tableau de Bord

Concern over the development of new performance measurement systems that that are in line of a complex business environment has increased.  Problems with relying solely on financial measures have proven counterproductive. Recently, interest over non-financial measures has dramatically increased. Non-financial measures, however, are not problem-free. The issues are to translate improvements in these non-financial indicators into improvement in the bottom line. To overcome these problems, Kaplan and Norton have developed a new system called the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Some French scholars argue that the BSC is a mere reproduction of the French Tableau de Bord (TDB) developed in the 1950s by French engineers. This paper seeks to draw a comparison between the BSC and The TDB