Abstract:

In view of the security risks faced by RAM(Random Access Memory) and Flash memory of embedded on-chip systems, this study outlines physical attacks against memory of traditional SoC(System on Chip) chips, and presents a memory controller that supports encryption algorithms. Using the lightweight block cipher algorithm LBlock-s, the cryptographic security analysis shows that the algorithm has a good resistance to differential cryptanalysis. Compared with traditional block cipher algorithms such as AES(Advanced Encryption Standard), the proposed method reduces hardware resource consumption while guaranteeing security and is suitable for all kinds of resource-constrained secure SoC chips. To improve the data throughput, the hardware structure of the algorithm is expanded so that the standard 32 rounds of encryption or decryption take 1 clock cycle. This scheme guarantees that sensitive data cannot be parsed even if acquired by the attacker without consuming more hardware resources and encrypting delay, and effectively avoids physical attack on the security chip.

Key words: secure memory, secure SoC chip, information security, data encryption, lightweight block cipher, differential cryptanalysis, physical attacks, throughput