Slashdot Mirror
Researchers Find Way To Zap RSA Algorithm
alphadogg writes "Three University of Michigan computer scientists say they have found a way to exploit a weakness in RSA security technology used to protect everything from media players to smartphones and e-commerce servers. RSA authentication is susceptible, they say, to changes in the voltage supply to a private key holder. While guessing the 1,000-plus digits of binary code in a private key would take unfathomable hours, the researchers say that by varying electric current to a secured computer using an inexpensive purpose-built device they were able to stress out the computer and figure out the 1,024-bit private key in about 100 hours – all without leaving a trace. The researchers in their paper outline how they made the attack (PDF) on a SPARC system running Linux."
...whether interrogating a human or a computer, apparently it is a simple matter of voltage.
The only thing the article "ads" to the summary posted here is a pretty splash screen, which in my case tried to sell me SQL Server.
Machines where software can alter the CPU voltages and clock speeds for "overclocking" purposes may be especially vulnerable to this attack. "Advanced power management" may also offer an attack vector.
Also worry about Intel's Nehalem architecture, where there's a small CPU dedicated to power, clock, and thermal management. Access to that allows detailed control over power.
...electronic torture?
We can just declare this method in violation of the computer's rights and solve the problem easily!
In what kind of scenario would you have access to the PSU of the server you attacked? Private key servers should not be directly accessible after all.
No, reasearchers find side-channel attack on SPARC CPU (which requires elevated access, anyway).
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Probably much more threatening(though, frankly, that pleases me) to DRMed embedded systems and similar gear that is supposed to be "secure" vs. its immediate environment; but is also in the hands of the public in huge quantities.
Yeah, if I can break into your datacenter and clamp some crazy widget onto the (presumably multiple) lines supplying your server's PSUs, a clever voltage attack is not the biggest of your problems.
If, on the other hand, you can guess the private crypto keys out of a DRMed PMP just by clipping a 15 dollar device from some shady mod-chip vendor to the recharging port and waiting a few days, heads will roll. There are a lot of devices these days that are designed to keep keys secret from the owners of the hardware. Particularly for common ones, voltage attack devices might well become fairly common advanced hobbyist and/or grey market items...
This is just a fault injection attack. People have been doing similar things to block ciphers for years, it is not a mathematical weakness, just a side channel attack, and an active one at that. Cool that they did it against RSA, but not really headline news...
Palm trees and 8
but seriously people who figure these things out and make them work... i question their sanity, brilliant but you have to be a mad scientist to achieve these things
You're in the wrong place, and your attitude sucks. Consider yourself lucky to live in a world with people who are this driven by their curiosity.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
If someone has physical access to your machine, then you have already lost.
Im a gamer, not a grammer major. This post is full of spelling and grammer mistakes.
Depends on what the DRM is trying to protect. Music players, video players for downloadable content, and basically anything where the content isn't tied to a physical object like a game disc will need a private key of some kind to encrypt the data on their volatile storage. While most of this will probably be done using symmetric encryption, you still need some way for the server that hands out the content to prove that it is a real device and not an emulated device, and that's normally done with a locally stored private key.
This is moderated flamebait... I’m not sure why. I read the entire thing in a congratulatory tone.
I guess some people think being called “sick” is an insult...
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.