An efficient DPA countermeasure for the EtaT pairing algorithm over GF(2n) based on random value addition

Abstract

This paper presents an efficient differential power analysis (DPA) countermeasure for the EtaT pairing algorithm over GF(2n). The proposed algorithm is based on a random value addition (RVA) mechanism. An RVAbased DPA countermeasure for the EtaT pairing computation over GF(3n) was proposed in 2008. This paper examines the security of this RVA-based DPA countermeasure and defines the design principles for making the countermeasure more secure. Finally, the paper proposes an efficient RVA-based DPA countermeasure for the secure computation of the EtaT pairing over GF(2n). The proposed countermeasure not only overcomes the security flaws in the previous RVAbased method but also exhibits the enhanced performance. Actually, on the 8-bit ATmega128L and 16-bit MSP430 processors, the proposed method can achieve almost 39% and 43% of performance improvements, respectively, compared with the best-known countermeasure. © 2011 Optical Society of America.