What is Chip Attack Models?

Chip Attack Models

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A chip attack model refers to various attack methods targeting chip hardware and its operating environment, aiming to obtain sensitive information or disrupt chip functions. It mainly includes reverse engineering, split manufacturing, and physical attacks.

Reverse engineering is a technology that peels off chip materials layer by layer through chemical methods and uses a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze the internal structure of the chip. By extracting circuit layouts and gate-level netlists, attackers can infer the chip's functions and design codes. This method is usually used to crack the design logic of the chip.

Split manufacturing is a technology that divides the chip design into the Front-End of Line (FEOL) layer and the Back-End of Line (BEOL) layer, which are then manufactured in different foundries respectively. Although this method can improve chip security, there may be security vulnerabilities during transportation and alignment processes, and it also poses challenges to the reliability of the chip.

Physical attacks are classified into three categories based on the degree of damage: invasive, semi-invasive, and non-invasive.

• Invasive attacks: Include reverse engineering and microprobing, which involve direct contact with the internal circuits of the chip.

• Semi-invasive attacks: Utilize technologies such as optical fault injection to disrupt chip functions.

• Non-invasive attacks: Conducted through the input/output (I/O) ports of the chip, such as side-channel attacks.

A side-channel attack is a type of non-invasive attack that infers sensitive information by exploiting physical characteristics of the chip during operation, such as power consumption, electromagnetic radiation, execution time, or acoustic signals. For example, a timing attack targeting RSA encryption infers the key by measuring the execution time of the algorithm.

Timing attacks typically consist of three phases: model construction, experimental data collection, and statistical analysis. By simulating the relationship between the algorithm's execution time and the key, and combining it with actual measured values, attackers gradually infer the correct key.

Research on chip attack models is crucial for enhancing hardware security and also provides a reference for designing more secure chip architectures.