Register Write Verification for Fault Injection Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex electronic systems are vulnerable to fault injection attacks during data writing into registers, leading to unauthorized, incomplete, or incorrect data writes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a verification table to ensure correct data writing by checking authorization, requirement, and integrity of data writes, using a protection device that verifies each write operation against predefined criteria.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data writing into registers is performed without verification, then the writing operation is fast and simple, but the system is vulnerable to fault injection attacks and data integrity cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-defining verification tables that contain expected values and authorization criteria before data writing operations occur. The protection device uses these pre-established tables to automatically verify write operations, eliminating the need for complex real-time analysis and reducing the perceived complexity during actual data writing while maintaining high reliability.
2Reliability
If verification tables are implemented to check each data write operation, then unauthorized or erroneous writes are prevented, but the data writing process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the verification process by creating separate verification tables for different registers and different types of write operations. This segmentation allows the protection device to quickly locate and apply only the relevant verification rules for each specific write operation, rather than checking all possible conditions, thereby maintaining high data writing speed while ensuring comprehensive protection against attacks.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple verification checks are performed on data writes, then the system becomes more resistant to fault injection attacks, but the operational overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying by creating verification tables that contain copies of expected data values, authorization flags, and validation criteria. The protection device compares actual write operations against these pre-copied reference values using simple equality checks and bitwise operations, which are much faster than complex computational verification, thus reducing processing time while maintaining strong resistance to fault injection attacks.
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method for protecting a writing of data is provided. An example device and method includes protecting a writing of data into at least one register of at least a first electronic circuit. The device is adapted to storing a first verification table comprising for each of the at least one register: at least one first piece of information concerning the writing of data into the at least one register; and at least a second piece of information indicating whether or not a data item has been written into the at least one register.