Abstract

The book "Power Analysis Attacks - Revealing the Secrets of Smartcards" is the first book that provides a comprehensive introduction to power analysis attacks and countermeasures. It discusses and compares all kinds of attacks and countermeasures that have been published so far.

The book is intended for DPA starters and practitioners. It starts by discussing cryptographic devices, how they are built, and why their power consumption leaks information about their internal data. Then, it discusses how this power consumption can be characterized in a statistical manner, what type of statistics are useful and how the statistics are related to one of the most important practical issues: how many measurements are needed in power analysis attacks. The core of the book are two chapters that discuss simple and differential power analysis attacks in detail. Finally, the book covers countermeasures such as masking and hiding, including special logic styles and also attacks on countermeasures, such as higher-order attacks.