Side-Channel Attacks in the Internet of Things

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) rapidly closes the gap between the virtual and the physical world. As more and more information is processed through this expanding network, the security of IoT devices and backend services is increasingly important. Yet, side-channel attacks pose a significant threat to systems in practice, as the microarchitectures of processors, their power consumption, and electromagnetic emanation reveal sensitive information to adversaries. This chapter provides an extensive overview of previous attack literature. It illustrates that microarchitectural attacks can compromise the entire IoT ecosystem: from devices in the field to servers in the backend. A subsequent discussion illustrates that many of today's security mechanisms integrated in modern processors are in fact vulnerable to the previously outlined attacks. In conclusion to these observations, new countermeasures are needed that effectively defend against both microarchitectural and power/EM based side-channel attacks.