• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.607-615
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• 2022

The SITM (See-In-The-Middle) proposed in CHES 2020 is a methodology for side-channel assisted differential cryptanalysis. This technique analyzes the power traces of unmasked middle rounds in partial masked SPN block cipher implementation, and performs differential analysis with the side channel information. Blockcipher GIFT is a lightweight blockcipher proposed in CHES 2017, designed to correct the well-known weaknesses of block cipher PRESENT and provide the efficient implementation. In this paper, we propose SITM attacks on partial masked implementation of GIFT-128. This attack targets 4-round and 6-round masked implementation of GIFT-128 and time/data complexity is 2^14.01 /2^14.01, 2¹⁶ /2¹⁶. In this paper, we compare the masterkey recovery logic available in SITM attacks, establishing a criterion for selecting more efficient logic depending on the situation. Finally, We introduce how to apply the this attack to GIFT-COFB, one of the finalist candidates in NIST lightweight cryptography standardization process.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.807-816
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• 2022

See-In-The-Middle (SITM) is an analysis technique that uses Side-Channel information for differential cryptanalysis. This attack collects unmasked middle-round power traces when implementing block ciphers to select plaintext pairs that satisfy the attacker's differential pattern and utilize them for differential cryptanalysis to recover the key. Romulus, one of the final candidates for the NIST Lightweight Cryptography standardization competition, is based on Tweakable block cipher Skinny-128-384+. In this paper, the SITM attack is applied to Skinny-128-384 implemented with 14-round partial masking. This attack not only increased depth by one round, but also significantly reduced the time/data complexity to 2^14.93/2^14.93. Depth refers to the round position of the block cipher that collects the power trace, and it is possible to measure the appropriate number of masking rounds required when applying the masking technique to counter this attack. Furthermore, we extend the attack to Romulus's Nonce-based AE mode Romulus-N, and Tweakey's structural features show that it can attack with less complexity than Skinny-128-384.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2022

The SITM (See-In-The-Middle) attack proposed in CHES 2020 is a type of analysis technique that combines differential cryptanalysis and side-channel analysis, and can be applied even in a harsh environment with a low SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). This attack targets partial 1^st or higher order masked block cipher, and uses unmasked middle round weakness. PRESENT is a lightweight blockcipher proposed in CHES 2007, designed to be implemented efficiently in a low-power environment. In this paper, we propose SITM attacks on 14-round masked implementation of PRESENT while the previous attacks were applicable to 4-round masked implementation of PRESENT. This indicates that PRESENT has to be implemented with more than 16-round masking to be resistant to our attacks.