Influence of PCB and attached line of hardware on electromagnetic (EM) information leakage

Abstract

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation from information hardware under normal operating conditions can compromise secret information (EM, information leakage), such as operations or processed data contained in the hardware. Methods for analyzing EM radiation with the intention of extracting secret information have been proposed, and EM side-channel attacks on cryptographic hardware are a major concern. This paper investigates how EM information leakage changes with the configuration of the information hardware, focusing on the frequency characteristics of the hardware. We assume that the frequency characteristics of the EM radiation correspond to physical aspects of the hardware configuration. To address the issue of information leakage, this paper presents a novel analysis of EM radiation from information hardware by using a model circuit board. Using this model, we show that the intensity of the EM emissions can be correlated to the layout of the hardware.