On Comparing Side-channel Properties of AES and ChaCha20 on Microcontrollers

Conference Paper (2018)
Author(s)

Zakaria Najm (Nanyang Technological University, TU Delft - Cyber Security)

Dirmanto Jap (Nanyang Technological University)

Bernhard Jungk (Independent researcher)

Stjepan Picek (TU Delft - Cyber Security)

Shivam Bhasin (Nanyang Technological University)

DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1109/APCCAS.2018.8605653 Final published version
More Info
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Publication Year
2018
Language
English
Pages (from-to)
552-555
ISBN (print)
978-1-5386-8241-8
ISBN (electronic)
978-1-5386-8240-1
Event
Downloads counter
243

Abstract

Side-channel attacks are a real threat to many secure systems. In this paper, we consider two ciphers used in the automotive industry – AES and ChaCha20 and we evaluate their resistance against side-channel attacks. In particular, the focus is laid upon the main non-linear component in these ciphers. Owing to the design of ChaCha20, it offers natural timing side-channel resistance and thus is suitable for affected applications. However, attacks exploiting the power side-channel are somewhat more difficult on ChaCha20 as compared to AES, but the overhead to protect ChaCha20 against such attack is considerably higher.