Design of cryptographic devices resilient to fault injection attacks using nonlinear robust codes

Abstract

This chapter mainly discusses robust and partially robust codes and their application to various cryptographic primitives. Initially, robust nonlinear codes are described in detail and their error detection capabilities are measured theoretically. Next, various nonlinear constructions are provided and their potential applications are described. More specifically, we discuss the protection of the AES data path, finite state machines (FSMs), and elliptic curve cryptosystems (ECCs). The main advantage of robust codes is that they are nonlinear and hence the success of an injected fault is data-dependent. As a result, error detection using nonlinear robust codes is one of the most effective solutions to active fault injection attacks.