A Combined Countermeasure Against Side-Channel and Fault Attack with Threshold Implementation Technique

Abstract

Side-channel attack (SCA) and fault attack (FA) are two classical physical attacks against cryptographic implementation. In order to resist them, we present a combined countermeasure scheme which can resist both SCA and FA. The scheme combines threshold implementation and duplication-based exchange techniques. The exchange technique can confuse the fault propagation path and randomize the faulty values. The threshold implementation technique can ensure a provable security against SCA. Moreover, it can also help to resist the FA by its incomplete property and random numbers. Compared with other methods, the proposed scheme has simple structure, which can be easily implemented in hardware and result in a low implementation cost. Finally, we present a detailed design for the block cipher light encryption device (LED) and implement it. The hardware cost evaluation shows our scheme has the minimum overhead factor.