Remix.run Logo
vardump 4 days ago

A side channel attack revealing AES key from just 90,000 traces.

Sigh, side channel attacks seem to be everywhere now.

barbegal 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

That 90,000 traces did take 225 hours to capture so it is truly a huge amount of data and not a trivial attack.

karlgkk 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

On the other hand, I’d argue that it’s close enough to trivial to be considered trivial. How many embedded devices transmit sensitive information?

Now, I know that pretty much every Bluetooth based credit card reading device explicitly defends against a channel such as this, but there are tons of access control solutions, and medical devices that don’t

Would you notice a raspberry pi tucked into the mess of wires beneath the security guard guards desk?

throwaway89201 4 days ago | parent [-]

> How many embedded devices transmit sensitive information?

Every Zigbee device uses AES keys to secure the network, although the security of the protocol is pretty weak in most deployments, especially when new devices join the network. Leaking the network key would provide access to the entire network. The ARM Cortex-M4 is often used, which the side-channel attack in the article is about.

kragen 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

That's less than two weeks.

userbinator 4 days ago | parent [-]

For one key, assuming it does not change within that time.

ghostpepper 2 days ago | parent [-]

and assuming the protocol needs to continuously transmit for weeks at a time

sitzkrieg 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

people are finally aware everything leaks, it's just a matter of how closely you look

boulevard 4 days ago | parent [-]

Everything leaks if you stare at it long enough

formerly_proven 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

There's a lot of signal left between you and the noise floor!

namibj 4 days ago | parent [-]

Worse: noise floor is a matter of definition.

czbond 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Everything has data exhaust.... the exhaust type just differs.