A security evaluation methodology for smart cards against electromagnetic analysis

Abstract

Cryptographic processors can be vulnerable in electromagnetic analysis (EMA) attacks due to their EM side-channel leakage. A design-time security evaluation methodology has been proposed to assess the security level of cryptographic processors against EMA attacks. This EM simulation methodology involves current flow simulation, chip layout parasitics extraction then data processing to simulate direct EM emissions or modulated emissions. The proposed simulation methodology can be easily employed in the framework of an integrated circuit (IC) design flow to perform a systematic EM characteristics analysis