"Researchers Demonstrate Two Security Methods That Efficiently Protect Analog-To-Digital Converters From Powerful Attacks"
According to MIT researchers, analog-to-digital converters contained by smart devices, which encode real-world signals from sensors into digital values that can be processed computationally, are vulnerable to electromagnetic side-channel attacks. A hacker could measure the analog-to-digital converter's power supply current and apply Machine Learning (ML) to reconstruct output data. In two new papers, the MIT researchers show that analog-to-digital converters are also vulnerable to a stealthier type of side-channel attack, and provide methods to efficiently block both attacks. When conducting a power side-channel attack, a malicious agent typically solders a resistor onto the device's circuit board to evaluate its power usage. A noninvasive electromagnetic side-channel assault, on the other hand, uses an electromagnetic probe capable of detecting electric current without touching the device. The researchers demonstrated that an electromagnetic side-channel attack on an analog-to-digital converter was just as successful as a power side-channel attack, even when the probe was held 1 centimeter away from the chip. A hacker might use this exploit to obtain sensitive data from an implantable medical device. To prevent these attacks, the researchers randomized the ADC conversion process. This article continues to discuss the methods developed by MIT researchers to protect analog-to-digital converters in smart devices from power and electromagnetic side-channel attacks.