Tunable impedance matching methods and circuits for protection against side-channel attacks

Abstract

Board-level transmissions can inadvertently reveal secret information when intercepted by an EM probe within range of an electronic assembly. To mitigate the side-channel attacks, an electronic assembly may measure a real-time impedance at a receiving subsystem to detect changes in the impedance caused by the added impedance of the EM probe. A controller may then look up electric and magnetic field values corresponding to the measured impedance to identify a location of the EM probe. Component values may be selected for an adjustable impedance to steer the EM emissions away from the EM probe. The system may react continuously to any movements of the probe to adjust the direction of any EM emissions away from the probe.

Images