Hardware Designer's Guide to Fault Attacks

Static Fault Attacks on Hardware DES Registers

In the late nineties, Eli Biham and Adi Shamir published the first paper on Differential Fault Analysis on symmetric key algorithms. More specifically they introduced a fault model where a key bit located in non-volatile memory is forced to 0/1 with a fault injection. In their scenario the fault was permanent, and could lead the attacker to full key recovery with low complexity. In this paper, ...

New Error Detecting Codes for the Design of Hardware Resistant to Strong Fault Injection Attacks

Cryptographic devices suffer from fault injection attacks. The security of crypto-systems protected by traditional error detecting codes rely on the assumption that the information bits and the error patterns are not both controllable by the attacker. For applications where the assumption is not valid, the security of systems protected by traditional error detecting codes can be easily compromi...

Fault attacks and countermeasures

Optical Fault Induction Attacks

We describe a new class of attacks on secure microcontrollers and smartcards. Illumination of a target transistor causes it to conduct, thereby inducing a transient fault. Such attacks are practical; they do not even require expensive laser equipment. We have carried them out using a flashgun bought second-hand from a camera store for $30 and with an $8 laser pointer. As an illustration of the ...

Hardware Attacks Against Smart Cards

In this report we discuss several hardware attacks against smart cards. We describe a number of successful attacks against cards such as pay-TV cards and pre-paid phone cards and how these attacks has since been mitigated. We have also looked into a class of attacks called Optical Fault Induction Attacks and described how they work and what a designer can do to prevent them.