Research topics

Increasing connectivity among embedded systems (Internet of Things) demands security functions to ensure a reliable and safe operation. Our research on Physical Unclonable Functions provides unique identities and cryptographic keys in embedded systems, which are key components for future security. Furthermore we develope energy and resource efficient cryptographic implementations and protection mechanism in order to prevent implementation attacks, which recover secrets by measuring behavior of embedded systems or injecting faults. To speed up the design of secure hardware we develope tools to detect weaknesses in implementations as early as possible. Contrary to classic cryptanalysis, we focus on implementation attacks, which are a major threat for embedded systems. Our work extends the boundaries of known attacks in order to include countermeasures before systems are shipped in large quantities.

• IT security for embedded and cyber physical systems for the Internet-of-Things
• Unique identities and cryptographic keys for things through Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs)
• Side-Channel-/Fault Attacks and Countermeasures on Chips
• New attacks on cryptographic implementations, i.e. side channel and fault attacks
• Benchmarking of Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) Algorithms for the Competition for Authenticated Encryption: Security, Applicability, and Robustness (CAESAR)
• Hardware Reverse Engineering
• Security Functions against Invasive Attacks on Chips