Hound: Locating Cryptographic Primitives in Desynchronized Side-Channel Traces Using Deep-Learning

Abstract: Side-channel attacks allow to extract sensitive information from cryptographic primitives by correlating the partially known computed data and the measured side-channel signal. Starting from the raw side-channel trace, the preprocessing of the side-channel trace to pinpoint the time at which each cryptographic primitive is executed, and, then, to re-align all the collected data to this specific time represent a critical step to setup a successful side-channel attack. The use of hiding techniques has been widely adopted as a low-cost solution to hinder the preprocessing of side-channel traces thus limiting side-channel attacks in real scenarios. This work introduces Hound, a novel deep learning-based pipeline to locate the execution of cryptographic primitives within the side-channel trace even in the presence of trace deformations introduced by the use of dynamic frequency scaling actuators. Hound has been validated through successful attacks on various cryptographic primitives executed on an FPGA-based system-on-chip incorporating a RISC-V CPU, while dynamic frequency scaling is active. Experimental results demonstrate the possibility of identifying the cryptographic primitives in DFS-deformed side-channel traces.