Read-Proof Hardware from Protective Coatings

In cryptography it is assumed that adversaries only have black box access to the secret keys of honest parties. In real life, however, the black box approach is not sufficient because attackers have access to many physical means that enable them to derive information on the secret keys. In order to limit the attacker's ability to read out secret information, the concept of Algorithmic Tamper Proof (ATP) security is needed as put forth by Gennaro, Lysyanskaya, Malkin, Micali and Rabin. An essential component to achieve ATP security is read-proof hardware. In this paper, we develop an implementation of read-proof hardware that is resistant against invasive attacks. The construction is based on a hardware and a cryptographic part. The hardware consists of a protective coating that contains a lot of randomness. By performing measurements on the coating a fingerprint is derived. The cryptographic part consists of a Fuzzy Extractor that turns this fingerprint into a secure key. Hence no...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CHES
• Authors: Pim Tuyls, Geert Jan Schrijen, Boris Skoric, Jan van Geloven, Nynke Verhaegh, Rob Wolters
• Keywords: Black Box, CHES 2006, Cryptology, Read-proof Hardware, Secret Keys