Weakness of RSA and the Chinese Remainder Theorem

Authors: Alexander Kozak and Jared Vanderbeck

Abstract

      The RSA encryption algorithm has become one of the most important public-key encryption schemes in today's computing world. A vital performance boosting operation is the implementation of the Chinese Remainder Theorem to increase the speed of decryption. However, there are rumors and findings that suggest that this execution method, while providing significant performance benefits, is highly susceptible to side channel attacks that may reveal the private keys to an attacker. This would render the encryption useless, and allow the attacker access to important data. We will be researching these attacks on the Chinese Remainder Theorem and whether or not there exists a method of protecting against these attacks.

Presentation

Download: PowerPoint   PDF

Paper

Download: PDF

References

  1. Remote Timing Attacks are Practical by David Brumley and Dan Boneh
  2. Introduction to Side Channel Attacks
  3. Timing Attacks on Implementations of Diffie-Hellman, RSA, DSS, and Other Systems by Paul C. Kocher
  4. Side-Channel Attacks by Neal Koblitz and Alfred J. Menezes