CROSSING Research Seminar: How Secure is Green IT? The Case of Software-Based Energy Side Channels

Organizer: Stefanie Kettler, CROSSING

Abstract

Software-based energy measurement features in contemporary CPUs allow one to track and to limit energy consumption, e.g., for realizing green IT. In this article, we study the security implications of software-based energy measurement. More concretely, we show that side-channel attacks can be established using software-based energy measurement at the example of a popular RSA implementation. Using distinguishing experiments, we identify a side-channel vulnerability that enables attackers to distinguish RSA keys by measuring energy consumption. We demonstrate that a surprisingly low number of sample measurements suffices to succeed in an attack with high probability. In contrast to traditional power side-channel attacks, no physical access to hardware is needed. This makes the vulnerabilities particularly serious.

Short Bio

https://www.mais.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/Alexandra_Weber.html

Links

• Talk: Online via BBB
• Networking: Online – the link will be shared during the BBB session