Method for protecting a terminal against a side-channel attack
OwnerVincent GIRAUDinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for protecting a terminal including a data processor, a battery and a battery gauge providing the data processor with data descriptive of the state of the battery, against a side-channel attack using the data descriptive of the state of the battery. The method includes implementing, by the data processor: when said terminal is likely to be subject to said attack, controlling at least one energy-consuming component of the terminal so as to modify the data descriptive of the state of the battery provided by the battery gauge.
Claims12
A method comprising:
- for protecting a terminal comprising a data processor, a battery and a battery gauge providing the data processor with data descriptive of a state of the battery, against a side-channel attack using said data descriptive of state of the battery, the protecting comprising implementing by the data processor:
- when said terminal is likely to be subject to said attack, simulating implementation of a target process on the terminal by controlling at least one energy-consuming component of the terminal so as to modify the data descriptive of the state of the battery provided by the battery gauge and obtain a same data descriptive of the state of the battery as the data that would be obtained for said target process;
- and
- detecting whether said attack is attempted based on the modified data descriptive of the state of the battery.
A terminal comprising:
- data processor,
- at least one energy-consuming component,
- a battery, and
- a battery gauge which provides the data processor with data descriptive of a state of the battery,
- the data processor being configured to:
- when said terminal is likely to be subject to a side-channel attack using said data descriptive of the state of the battery, simulate implementation of a target process on the terminal by controlling said energy-consuming component so as to modify the data descriptive of the state of the battery provided by the battery gauge and obtain a same data descriptive of the state of the battery as would be obtained for said target process;
- and
- detect whether said attack is attempted based on the modified data descriptive of the state of the battery.
(canceled)
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium on which is recorded a computer program product comprising code instructions for the execution of a method when the instructions are executed by a data processor of a terminal, wherein the method comprises:
- protecting the terminal, which comprises the data processor, a battery and a battery gauge providing the data processor with data descriptive of a state of the battery, against a side-channel attack using said data descriptive of the state of the battery, the protecting comprising:
- when said terminal is likely to be subject to said attack, simulating implementation of a target process on the terminal by controlling at least one energy-consuming component of the terminal so as to modify the data descriptive of the state of the battery provided by the battery gauge and obtain a same data descriptive of the state of the battery as the data that would be obtained for said target process;
- and
- detecting whether said attack is attempted based on the modified data descriptive of the state of the battery.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.