Shuffling against side-channel attacks: A comprehensive study with cautionary note

Abstract

Together with masking, shuffling is one of the most frequently considered solutions to improve the security of small embedded devices against side-channel attacks. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive study of this countermeasure, including improved implementations and a careful information theoretic and security analysis of its different variants. Our analyses lead to important conclusions as they moderate the strong security improvements claimed in previous works. They suggest that simplified versions of shuffling (e.g. using random start indexes) can be significantly weaker than their counterpart using full permutations. We further show with an experimental case study that such simplified versions can be as easy to attack as unprotected implementations. We finally exhibit the existence of "indirect leakages" in shuffled implementations that can be exploited due to the different leakage models of the different resources used in cryptographic implementations. This suggests the design of fully shuffled (and efficient) implementations, were both the execution order of the instructions and the physical resources used are randomized, as an interesting scope for further research. © International Association for Cryptologic Research 2012.