Maturing Physical Security Models in Realistic Scenarios

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Amir Moradi
• Subject Area: Security and Dependability, Operating-, Communication- and Distributed Systems
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549340884

In today's world, where digital devices are deeply integrated into our daily lives, ensuring the security of our transactions, identities, and possessions is crucial: bank cards could get hacked or identification documents could be compromised. These scenarios highlight the need for digital devices to protect themselves in an increasingly untrustworthy environment. This project aims to address the security challenges posed by the integration of digital devices into our lives. It focuses on developing improved security models and countermeasures against physical attacks, such as those exploiting hardware vulnerabilities. The goal is to create secure hardware designs that balance theoretical security with practical efficiency. The project aims to contribute to the development of more secure and efficient cryptographic hardware, safeguarding private data in real-world scenarios by identifying three main objectives: 1. Defining accurate security models by enhancing the understanding of side-channel security and refining leakage models, 2. Improving the randomness cost of countermeasures by assessing the security of random number generators against physical attacks and their integration in masked hardware, 3. Defining adversary and security models for combined attacks by extending the adversary models and combine fault and side-channel models to provide realistic and secure implementations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Belgium
• Partner Organisation: Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen ; Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Svetla Petkova-Nikova; Professor Vincent Rijmen