BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to electromagnetic (EM) emission of integrated circuits, and more particularly, to the correlation of EM emission measurements with photonic emission data for developing predictive EM emission models.

Description of the Related Art

With continuous scale-down of the dimensions of transistors of modern complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the complexity and density of present system-on-chips (SoC) integrated circuits have increased dramatically for the past two decades. The overall power and operation speeds of large SoC's are also on the rise, leading to enhanced EM emission and risk of information leak. EM emission is caused by changes of current and/or voltage of millions of transistors inside an integrated circuit, and could exhibit specific patterns or signatures related to certain activities of circuit blocks as well as sub-circuit blocks of the integrated circuit. Thus, secure data or information can be compromised by analyzing the EM emission signatures of an electronic hardware. For example, a smart card emits different amounts of EM emission during computation depending on the instructions and data being executed. Some sophisticated statistical techniques such as differential EM analysis can detect variations in EM emission so small that individual key bits can be identified. As security threats soar from various side channel attacks, new capabilities to remotely detect unexpected execution of programs of chip operations are necessary to protect sensitive information.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of remote detection and classification of changes in execution of programs and potential activation of malware(s) for a target device is provided. Electromagnetic emissions of the target device in a test context are measured. An anomaly condition associated with the target device is identified by comparing a result of the measuring to one or more electromagnetic emission models developed for the target device based on photonic emissions of the target device in a baseline context. The anomaly condition includes a change in execution of one or more programs by one or more circuit blocks of an integrated circuit of the target device, activation of a malware on the target device, or both.

In one embodiment, the one or more electromagnetic emission models for the target device are developed based on the photonic emissions of the target device in the baseline context by recording data of the photonic emissions of the target device using Time Resolved Emission (TRE), also known as Picosecond Imaging Circuit Analysis (PICA), during a first period of time with the target device in one or more modes; recording data of the electromagnetic emissions of the target device during the first period of time with the target device in the one or more modes; and correlating the recorded data of the photonic emissions and the recorded data of the electromagnetic emissions to establish the one or more electromagnetic emission models for the target device. Data of the electromagnetic emissions of the target device is recorded during a second period of time after the first period of time with the target device in at least one of the one or more modes.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of developing one or more electromagnetic emission models for a target device is provided. Data of photonic emissions of the target device is recorded using Picosecond Imaging Circuit Analysis (PICA) during a first period of time with the target device in one or more modes. Data of electromagnetic emissions of the target device is recorded during the first period of time with the target device in the one or more modes. The recorded data of the photonic emissions and the recorded data of the electromagnetic emissions are correlated to establish one or more electromagnetic emission models for the target device.

In one embodiment, at least one operation of multiple operations is performed. A first operation, based on the one or more electromagnetic emission models in a time domain, performs one or more of: (1) enabling temporal aggregation of electromagnetic emission waveforms associated with the target device corresponding to a targeted event, (2) identifying one or more time frames of interest, and (3) improving a SNR in the electromagnetic emission waveforms associated with the target device. A second operation, based on the one or more electromagnetic emission models in a frequency domain, performs one or more of: (1) isolating a frequency of interest, (2) improving the SNR in electromagnetic emission waveforms associated with the target device, and (3) developing spectral signatures associated with one or more circuit behaviors of an integrated circuit of the target device. A third operation, based on the one or more electromagnetic emission models in a spatial domain, identifies a region of interest associated with one or more circuit blocks of the integrated circuit of the target device. A fourth operation, based on the one or more electromagnetic emission models in the spatial domain, identifies one or more locations of the target device associated with a matching photonic emission signature in time to associate the identified one or more locations of the target device to a specific electromagnetic emission signature associated with the target device.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a photonic emission measurement unit configured to measure and record data of photonic emissions of a target device with the target device in one or more modes, an electromagnetic emission measurement unit configured to measure and record data of electromagnetic emissions of the target device with the target device in the one or more modes, a data analysis unit configured to analyze the recorded data of the photonic emissions and the recorded data of the electromagnetic emissions to provide an analysis result, and a control unit. The control unit is configured to apply one or more inputs of electrical stimuli to an integrated circuit of the target device to place the target device in the one or more modes to perform one or more operations in at least one mode of the one or more modes. The control unit is also configured to correlate the recorded data of the photonic emissions and the recorded data of the electromagnetic emissions based on the analysis result to establish one or more electromagnetic emission models for the target device. The photonic emission measurement unit is configured to record the data of the photonic emissions of the target device using PICA.

