Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Side-Channel Attack Mitigation For Secure Devices With Embedded Sensors

Abstract:

Embodiments include cryptographic circuits having isolated operation with respect to embedded sensor operations to mitigate side-channel attacks. A cryptographic circuit, a sensor, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit are integrated into an integrated circuit along with a cryptographic circuit. A sensed signal is output with the sensor, and the sensed signal is converted to digital data using the ADC circuit. Further, cryptographic data is generated using one or more secret keys and the cryptographic circuit. The generation of the cryptographic data has isolated operation with respect to the operation of the sensor and the ADC circuit. The isolated operation mitigates side-channel attacks. The isolated operation can be achieved using power supply, clock, and/or reset circuits for the cryptographic circuit that are electrically isolated from similar circuits for the sensor and ADC circuit. The isolated operation can also be achieved using time-division multiplex operations. Other variations can also be implemented.