Heat signature [data security]

Abstract

By looking at heat and electromagnetic radiation, hackers have developed ever more ingenious methods for accessing apparently secure data held within smartcard and other silicon chips. They monitor characteristics such as execution time, power consumption and electromagnetic radiation and then apply advanced statistical analysis techniques. Using these techniques security keys have been successfully extracted from microprocessors, field-programmable gate arrays and custom chips. In fact, this type of non-invasive side-channel attack is now considered a real threat for any device in which the security IC is easily observable.