US 10,680,819 B2 · Systems and methods for operating secure elliptic curve cryptosystems

Abstract

Various embodiments of the invention implement countermeasures designed to withstand attacks by potential intruders who seek partial or full retrieval of elliptic curve secrets by using known methods that exploit system vulnerabilities, including elliptic operation differentiation, dummy operation detection, lattice attacks, and first real operation detection. Various embodiments of the invention provide resistance against side-channel attacks, such as sample power analysis, caused by the detectability of scalar values from information leaked during regular operation flow that would otherwise compromise system security. In certain embodiments, system immunity is maintained by performing elliptic scalar operations that use secret-independent operation flow in a secure Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A secure Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) for performing elliptic scalar operations, the system comprising:

a secure microcontroller that is embedded in a computing system, the secure microcontroller comprising a cryptography circuit configured to implement a countermeasure while preventing secret scalar leakage;
and
a memory to store a secret scalar, k, that comprises secret key bits, the cryptography circuit performing elliptic scalar operations comprising instructions for:
receiving an elliptic point, P/2, and the secret scalar, k;
initializing a value Q to the elliptic point that does not include an initial value at an infinity point;
processing the secret key bits of the secret scalar in sequential steps, wherein processing comprises doubling the value Q, wherein each step comprises performing elliptic operations comprising at least one of elliptical point subtraction and addition;
and
performing an elliptical point subtraction by subtracting the elliptic point, P/2, from the value Q to compute a product kP.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Systems and methods for operating secure elliptic curve cryptosystems

Life of this patent

Systems and methods for operating secure elliptic curve cryptosystems

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19