Cache Side-Channel Attacks On LLMs (MITRE, WPI)


A new technical paper titled "Spill The Beans: Exploiting CPU Cache Side-Channels to Leak Tokens from Large Language Models" was published by researchers at MITRE and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Abstract "Side-channel attacks on shared hardware resources increasingly threaten confidentiality, especially with the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs). In this work, we introduce Spill The... » read more

Cache Occupancy Attacks Targeting The SLC of Apple M-Series SoCs (Northeastern Univ.)


A new technical paper titled "EXAM: Exploiting Exclusive System-Level Cache in Apple M-Series SoCs for Enhanced Cache Occupancy Attacks" was published by researchers at Northeastern University. Abstract "Cache occupancy attacks exploit the shared nature of cache hierarchies to infer a victim's activities by monitoring overall cache usage, unlike access-driven cache attacks that focus on spe... » read more

Side-Channel Attacks On Post-Quantum Cryptography


By Mike Hamburg and Bart Stevens Device security requires designers to secure their algorithms, not only against direct attacks on the input and output, but also against side-channel attacks. This requirement is especially notable for cryptographic algorithms, since they have a regular, well-understood structure, and the secrets they process often give access to much more information. Sid... » read more

Auto Sector Leads The Way In IC Security


Concerns about chip and system security are beginning to bear fruit in some markets, driven by the overlap in safety and security in automotive applications and the growing value of algorithms and complex systems in others. But how and when that security is implemented is still all over the map, and so is its effectiveness. The reasons are as nuanced as the designs themselves, which makes it... » read more

SW-HW Co-Design Mitigation To Strengthen ASLR Against Microarchitectural Attacks (MIT)


A technical paper titled "Oreo: Protecting ASLR Against Microarchitectural Attacks" was published by researchers at MIT. Abstract "Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is one of the most prominently deployed mitigations against memory corruption attacks. ASLR randomly shuffles program virtual addresses to prevent attackers from knowing the location of program contents in memory. Microa... » read more

Apple CPU Attacks: SLAP and FLOP (Georgia Tech, Ruhr University Bochum)


Two technical papers were published by researchers at Georgia Tech and Ruhr University Bochum detailing CPU side-channel attack vulnerabilities on Apple devices that could reveal confidential data. FLOP: Breaking the Apple M3 CPU via False Load Output Predictions"  Authors: Jason Kim, Jalen Chuang, Daniel Genkin and Yuval Yarom 2025. "We present FLOP, another speculative execution att... » read more

Hardware-Side-Channel Leakage Contracts That Account For Glitches and Transitions (TU Graz)


A new technical paper titled "Closing the Gap: Leakage Contracts for Processors with Transitions and Glitches" was published by researchers at Graz University of Technology. Abstract "Security verification of masked software implementations of cryptographic algorithms must account for microarchitectural side-effects of CPUs. Leakage contracts were proposed to provide a formal separation bet... » read more

Data Memory-Dependent Prefetchers Pose SW Security Threat By Breaking Cryptographic Implementations


A technical paper titled “GoFetch: Breaking Constant-Time Cryptographic Implementations Using Data Memory-Dependent Prefetchers” was presented at the August 2024 USENIX Security Symposium by researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, University of Washington, and Carnegie Mellon U... » read more

Temperature: A Growing Concern For Chip Security Experts


While everyone in the semiconductor industry wants to have the hottest new product, having that type of temperature manifest in a literal sense poses a threat not just to product stability and performance but to the security of the chips themselves. Temperature has become an object of fascination to security researchers due to the vagaries of how the physical properties of heat affect perfor... » read more

Secure Your SoC From Side Channel Attacks With Adaptable Security


Many SoC and ASIC manufacturers rely heavily on cryptographic solutions to safeguard sensitive IP and data transmission within their devices. In a dynamic landscape where threats from attackers continue to evolve, encryption algorithms play a crucial role in fortifying defenses. Hackers today are leveraging advanced physical tactics that extend beyond traditional data interception, posing signi... » read more

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