Side Channels

Activity Contact: Stephen Beard | srbeard@calpoly.edu

When thinking about computer security, we often focus on securing the parts of the computer we use and think about most often – the software and its execution. However, all computing devices are physical objects at some level with physical characteristics. Side Channel Attacks exploit the physical implementation of a system using physical artifacts that its operation creates – power, timing, electromagnetic radiation, sound, light, etc. For example, you can figure out someone’s cell phone PIN just by watching the power draw from its charger cable; you can easily crack a password using timing; you can turn a laser into a speaker and silently activate a smart home system! All kinds of really weird and interesting things are possible when you start to consider computing devices physical objects rather than magic math boxes. I am interested in advising any and all projects that investigate these types of attacks. These types of projects typically draw on a little bit of knowledge in many areas, and thus are great for individuals, teams, and cross-disciplinary groups. There is great potential for projects that have a heavy emphasis on reimplementing existing work, and those with more of a research element to them.