Dual-Rail Random Switching Logic: A Countermeasure to Reduce Side Channel Leakage

Recent research has shown that cryptographers with glitches are vulnerable in front of Side Channel Attacks (SCA). Since then, several methods, such as Wave Dynamic Differential Logic (WDDL) and Masked Dual-Rail Pre-charge Logic (MDPL), have been presented to make circuits clean. In this paper, we propose a more accurate power model based on logic gates' output transitions and divide it into pieces according to input signals' transformations. Based on our model, we demonstrate that 1-bit masked logic gates with asynchronous inputs always leak side-channel information from their output transitions. Therefore, even those gates designed without glitches are still susceptible to be attacked. To solve this problem, Dual-Rail Random Switching Logic (DRSL) is presented. By introducing a local pre-charge signal, DRSL gates have their inputs synchronized. Experimental results indicate that DRSL eliminates most of the leakage.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CHES
• Authors: Zhimin Chen, Yujie Zhou
• Keywords: CHES 2006, Cryptology, Logic, Logic Gates, Output Transitions