Detecting and preventing frequency attacks
AssigneeNVIDIA Corporation
InventorsBiswajit Datta, Rohitkumar Makhija, William Ryan Weese, Raghu Krishnamurthy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatuses, systems, and techniques to monitor a frequency of a clock signal sent to a device to prevent or limit undesired access to the device. In at least one embodiment, a frequency monitor circuit detects a selection signal sent to a device and monitors a frequency of a clock signal also sent to the device. In at least one embodiment, if the frequency of the clock signal exceeds a predetermined threshold, the frequency monitor circuit may assert a control signal to initiate an action to prevent or limit undesired access to the device.
Claims25
A system comprising:
- one or more circuits to:
- detect a selection signal sent to a device by an application processor over at least one communication channel connecting the device to the application processor, the application processor being separate from the device;
- and
- as a result of detecting the selection signal, assert a control signal based on a comparison between a predetermined threshold frequency and a frequency of a clock signal sent by the application processor to the device over the at least one communication channel, the control signal to cause access to the device to be restricted, the clock signal to be usable by the application processor to synchronize data transmission with the device over the at least one communication channel.
A root of trust (ROT) circuit comprising:
- one or more circuits to:
- implement a ROT and at least one frequency monitoring circuit;
- use the at least one frequency monitoring circuit to monitor a clock signal sent by a processor to a separate device over at least one communication channel, the clock signal to be usable by the processor to synchronize communication with the separate device over the at least one communication channel;
- and
- assert a control signal based on a comparison between a frequency of the clock signal and a predetermined threshold, the control signal to cause access to the separate device to be restricted.
A method comprising:
- monitoring a clock signal sent from a first device to a different second device to synchronize communication between the first device and the different second device over at least one communication channel;
- performing a comparison of a frequency of the clock signal with a predetermined threshold frequency;
- and
- asserting a control signal based on the comparison, the control signal to cause communication between the first device and the different second device to be restricted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.