Security for embedded devices

Ingrid Verbauwhede
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Security is as strong as the weakest link. Mathematically strong
algorithms
and protocols have been developed, which are computationally infeasible to break with current state-of-the-art technology. However, in many applications, and especially in embedded devices, it is
the
implementation that leaks information.
Side-channel attacks are a real threat, as they can be mounted without physical access to the device. Countermeasures require solutions at every design step: the protocol,
algorithm
architecture, micro-architecture and even circuit level.
In this presentation these design steps will be illustrated with the secure co-processor design of the Thumbpod device, which is an embedded biometric fingerprint verification system.


Audio (MP3 File, Podcast Ready) Presentation (PDF File)

Back to Workshop IV: Special purpose hardware for cryptography: Attacks and Applications