International Association for Cryptologic Research

International Association
for Cryptologic Research

CryptoDB

How Secure Are FPGAs in Cryptographic Applications?

Authors:
Thomas Wollinger
Christof Paar
Download:
URL: http://eprint.iacr.org/2003/119
Search ePrint
Search Google
Abstract: The use of FPGAs for cryptographic applications is highly attractive for a variety of reasons but at the same time there are many open issues related to the general security of FPGAs. This contribution attempts to provide a state-of-the-art description of this topic. First, the advantages of reconfigurable hardware for cryptographic applications are discussed from a systems perspective. Second, potential security problems of FPGAs are described in detail, followed by a proposal of a some countermeasure. Third, a list of open research problems is provided. Even though there have been many contributions dealing with the algorithmic aspects of cryptographic schemes implemented on FPGAs, this contribution appears to be the first comprehensive treatment of system and security aspects.
BibTeX
@misc{eprint-2003-11834,
  title={How Secure Are FPGAs in Cryptographic Applications?},
  booktitle={IACR Eprint archive},
  keywords={cryptography, FPGA, security, attacks, reconfigurable hardware, physical},
  url={http://eprint.iacr.org/2003/119},
  note={FPL 2003, 1.-3- September 2003, Lisbon, Portugal wollinger@crypto.rub.de 12208 received 5 Jun 2003},
  author={Thomas Wollinger and Christof Paar},
  year=2003
}