IACR News item: 11 March 2016
Eindhoven University of Technology. The Netherlands.
Job Posting
In electronic devices there is a trend to implement ever more functionality in software instead of hardware. Software has the advantage of being less costly, more scalable, easier to personalize, and easier to update. This trend exists also for security-sensitive functionality. For instance, payment schemes are increasingly implemented in software running on the host CPU of a mobile phone instead of in secured hardware.
A critical question now becomes how to hide secret data and algorithms in software that is running on a fully open platform. The challenge here is that an attacker should be assumed to have full access to and full control over the execution environment. This question is particular relevant for cryptographic keys. For hardware implementations, the protection of keys is a well-studied topic, and evaluation labs are well able to judge the security level of an implementation. For software, however, the evaluation of such solutions, called white-box implementations, is still in its infancy and evaluation labs are not yet able to rate their security level.
This project aims to improve our knowledge of white-box cryptography and white-box attacks to the point where certification of software security becomes meaningful.
We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:
A critical question now becomes how to hide secret data and algorithms in software that is running on a fully open platform. The challenge here is that an attacker should be assumed to have full access to and full control over the execution environment. This question is particular relevant for cryptographic keys. For hardware implementations, the protection of keys is a well-studied topic, and evaluation labs are well able to judge the security level of an implementation. For software, however, the evaluation of such solutions, called white-box implementations, is still in its infancy and evaluation labs are not yet able to rate their security level.
This project aims to improve our knowledge of white-box cryptography and white-box attacks to the point where certification of software security becomes meaningful.
We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:
- Master degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or another closely related discipline;
- an interest in computer security and cryptography
- knowledge of side-channel attacks on protected hardware (e.g. DPA, Fault injection) is a plus
- ability to work in a team, cooperate with industrial partners
- fluent in spoken and written English
Closing date for applications: 17 April 2016
Contact: prof.dr.ir. W.P.A.J. Michiels , email: w.p.a.j.michiels (at) tue.nl
More information: http://jobs.tue.nl/nl/vacature/phd-student-for-the-cowbois-project-256116.html
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