A case study of side-channel analysis using decoupling capacitor power measurement with the OpenADC

Abstract

When capturing power measurements for processing with side-channel analysis, there are many options with regards to both how the measurement is taken, and also how that measurement is digitized. This work concentrates on a new technique which measures the current through a decoupling capacitor, with a probe that can easily be built in any electronics lab. In addition an open-source digitizer board is presented, which is specifically designed to measure the signals required for side-channel analysis. The techniques presented in this work facilitate sharing of repeatable measurement techniques: the measurement environment presented can easily be duplicated at a very low cost. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.