Physical Key Extraction Attacks on PCs
http://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2016/6/202646-physical-key-extraction-attacks-on-pcs/fulltext
The power consumption of a CPU and related chips changes
drastically (by many Watts) depending on the computation being
performed at each moment. Electronic components in a PC's
internal power supply, struggling to provide constant voltage
to the chips, are subject to mechanical forces due to
fluctuations of voltages and currents. The resulting
vibrations, as transmitted to the ambient air, create
high-pitched acoustic noise, known as "coil whine," even
though it often originates from capacitors. Because this
noise is correlated with the ongoing computation, it leaks
information about what applications are running and what data
they process. Most dramatically, it can acoustically leak
secret keys during cryptographic operations. By recording such
noise while a target is using the RSA algorithm to decrypt
ciphertexts (sent to it by the attacker), the RSA secret key
can be extracted within one hour for a high-grade 4,096-bit
RSA key. We experimentally demonstrated this attack from as
far as 10 meters away using a parabolic microphone (see Figure
1) or from 30cm away through a plain mobile phone placed next
to the computer.
- - -
Of course, we can safely assume that intel agencies have been
utilizing such techniques for many years.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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