Title: Overlapped parallel computations of scalar multiplication with resistance against Side Channel Attacks

Authors: Turki F. Al-Somani

Addresses: Computer Engineering Department, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 6852, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: This paper presents an efficient scheme for computing elliptic curve scalar multiplication that uses side-channel atomicity to resist against SPA attacks. The inherent parallelism within point operations is exploited to perform parallel computations of atomic blocks within the same point operation. The computations of atomic blocks of subsequent point operations are then overlapped to increase the performance. Randomising the scalar multiplier and the projective coordinates are applied together to immunise the scheme against DPA attacks. The results show that the proposed scheme is highly efficient in comparison with the pipelined scheme of Mishra (2006), which outperformed previous schemes.

Keywords: ECCs; elliptic curve cryptosystems; SCA; side channel attacks; side channel atomicity; scalar multiplication pipelining; information security; computer security; parallel computing; simple power analysis; SPA attacks; differential power analysis; DPA attacks; crytpography.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICS.2008.020605

International Journal of Information and Computer Security, 2008 Vol.2 No.3, pp.250 - 267

Published online: 01 Oct 2008 *

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