US 7146509 B2
Before a predetermined processing sequence, the integrated circuit detects the state of at least one timer. The circuit controls the activation of the timer if it is not activated, and disables itself if the timer is activated.
1. A method of protecting an integrated circuit against piracy, the integrated circuit comprising a central processing unit (CPU) and at least one associated timer, the method comprising:
at the CPU, performing an initialization processing sequence;
at the CPU, detecting the state of the at least one timer after performing the initialization processing sequence and before performing a predetermined processing sequence;
if the at least one timer is not activated, activating the at least one timer and performing the predetermined processing sequence; and
if the at least one timer is activated, disabling the integrated circuit.
2. The method according to
3. The method according to
the CPU modifying the value of a counter within a protected area in a non-volatile memory if it is detected that the at least one timer is activated;
the CPU comparing the counted value with a predefined threshold; and
the CPU performing a process for protecting confidential data stored within memories in the integrated circuit if the counted value reaches the predefined threshold.
4. The method according to
5. The method according to
6. The method according to
7. The method according to
the CPU detecting the state of a respective timer before performing an associated calculation,
the CPU activating the respective timer if it is not activated; and
the CPU disabling the integrated circuit if the respective timer is activated.
8. An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU); and
at least one timer circuit for protecting the IC against piracy and comprising
a timer which is activated when the IC is powered-on and for a predetermined duration when the IC is powered-off,
a timer activating circuit for activating the timer,
a timer deactivating circuit for deactivating the timer, and
a detection circuit for detecting the state of the timer;
the CPU detecting the state of the timer after performing an initialization processing sequence and before performing a predetermined processing sequence, and, if the timer is not activated, activating the timer and performing the predetermined processing sequence; and
the CPU disabling the IC at predefined times if the timer is in the activated state.
9. The integrated circuit according to
10. The integrated circuit according to
a power supply detection circuit for detecting a power supply; and
a timer control device for allowing the timer to be activated or deactivated when the power supply is detected during a predetermined time period.
11. The integrated circuit according to
12. The integrated circuit according to
a discharge circuit associated with the capacitor and designed to discharge over the predetermined duration when the IC is powered-off;
a circuit for detecting capacitor charging;
a capacitor charging control circuit; and
a capacitor discharging control circuit.
13. The integrated circuit according to
14. The integrated circuit according to
15. The integrated circuit according to
This invention relates to methods and devices for protecting an integrated circuit against piracy, at least when the circuit performs operations that involve reading confidential data stored within the integrated circuit.
Conventionally, electronic transactions carried-out on a terminal via a smart card are protected via an authentication procedure for the card, which involves an encryption algorithm. During such an authentication procedure, a terminal sends a random code to the card, and the smart card must respond by generating an authentication code, which is transformed into a random code by the encryption algorithm. The terminal calculates, on its side, the transformed random code and compares the obtained result with the one sent by the card. If the authentication code sent by the card is valid, the transaction is authorized.
In a smart card integrated circuit, an encryption algorithm is generally executed by a hard-wired logic circuit, or an encryption coprocessor, to which is attributed a secret key or an encryption key, which is stored within a protected area of the integrated circuit memory. It is therefore essential to guarantee an absolute protection of this secret key, since the encryption algorithms implemented within the authentication procedures are well known and only the secret key guarantees the tamperproof character of the authentication procedure.
However, in recent years, techniques for pirating of integrated circuits have considerably improved and nowadays involve sophisticated analysis methods based on the observation of the current used by the elements in the integrated circuit during the execution of confidential operations. Presently, there are two types of methods for analyzing the current used, namely the SPA analysis methods (Single Power Analysis) and the DPA analysis methods (Differential Power Analysis) DPA analysis methods, which are more efficient than the former methods, allow a secret key to be revealed via a single observation of changes in the current used by the encryption circuit, without having to read the data flowing in the integrated circuit internal bus and to identify the memories that are read. Such a method relies upon a correlation of samples of the current used with a mathematical model of the encryption circuit and assumptions about the secret key's value. The correlation allows the dc-component in the used current to be suppressed and consumption peaks to be revealed which show the operation performed by the encryption circuit and confidential data values. With such a method, only about 1000 samples need to be recorded for a Data Encrytpion Standard (DES) secret key to be obtained.
To counteract such piracy methods, various countermeasure methods have been suggested that allow variations in the power consumption to be hidden or scrambled, at least during the execution of confidential operations. Such countermeasures only allow increasing the number of necessary samples up to 200,000 which can still be reached by automating measurements.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide integrated circuits designed to handle confidential information, in particular those that are mounted within smart cards with an additional protection.
This object is achieved by providing a method for protecting an integrated circuit against piracy, including the following successive steps performed by the integrated circuit before a predetermined processing sequence: detecting the state of at least one timer, controlling the activation of the timer if it is not activated, and disabling the integrated circuit if the timer is activated.
According to one feature of the invention, this method further comprises the step, performed by the integrated circuit if the predetermined processing sequence has been performed normally, of deactivating the timer.
According to another feature of the invention, this method further comprises the step, performed by the integrated circuit if it is detected that the timer is activated, of modifying the value of a counter within a protected area in a non-volatile memory, comparing the value of this counter to a predefined threshold, and performing a processing for protecting confidential data stored within memories in the integrated circuit if the counted value reaches a predefined threshold.
Advantageously, said protection processing includes erasing the confidential data from the memories in integrated circuit. Specifically, the protection processing includes erasing a secret code stored within a memory in the integrated circuit. Alternatively, the protection processing includes erasing all memories in the integrated circuit.
Before executing a calculation in a sequence comprising a predefined number of calculations, the integrated circuit preferably detects the state of a respective timer, each calculation being respectively associated with one timer, controls the activation of the associated timer if it is not activated, and disables itself if the associated timer is activated. This invention also relates to an integrated circuit protected against piracy, and including at least one timer circuit comprising an activation device for activating a timer adapted to remain in the activated state as long as the circuit is powered-on and for a predetermined duration if the circuit is powered-off. Also, the integrated circuit includes a deactivating device deactivating the timer. The activated or deactivated state of the timer is also detected. The integrated circuit further includes a timer reader for reading the state of the timer, and for disabling the integrated circuit at predefined time points if the timer is in the activated state.
According to a feature of this invention, the integrated circuit deactivates the timer after a normal execution of a predetermined processing sequence.
Advantageously, each timer circuit detects the presence of a supply voltage, and allows the activation or deactivation of the timer when the supply voltage is detected as present during the predetermined time period.
According to another feature of this invention, the integrated circuit comprises several timer circuits, each timer circuit being associated with a calculation performed by the integrated circuit, the integrated circuit determining, before each calculation, the state of the timer associated with the calculation, activating the associated timer if it is not activated and disabling itself if the associated timer is activated.
Preferably, each timer circuit comprises a capacitor associated with: a discharge circuit designed so that the capacitor slowly discharges when the device is powered-off, a circuit for detecting capacitor charging, a capacitor charging controlling device, and capacitor discharging controlling device. Advantageously, capacitor discharging controlling device is designed for discharging the capacitor more rapidly than when the device is powered off.
According to yet another feature of this invention, the integrated circuit comprises a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistor having very small leakage currents, which is associated with the capacitor, so that it is only discharged by the leakage currents when the integrated circuit is powered-off. Preferably, it also comprises a test circuit, which is controlled by a test control command, for reducing the timing period. (It is noted that the “metal oxide” in MOS comes from the first devices that used a metal gate over oxide (silicon dioxide); subsequently, poly-crystalline silicon has been used for the gate, and the term MOS now at least includes both.)
These and other objets, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, disclosed by way of non-limiting example in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
A secret key used by the encryption circuit 6 is stored within a protected area in the ROM or EEPROM memory. The integrated circuit may also comprise a countermeasure circuit 8 designed for scrambling a DPA analysis. According to the invention, the integrated circuit 1 also comprises a timer circuit 5 for more efficiently resisting a DPA attack (Differential Power Analysis).
Thus, if output Q or charge control input Chrg is at logic level 1, the source of the transistor goes to logic level 1. Conversely, if Q and Chrg are at logic level 0, the drain of transistor M1 is isolated through diode D1, which is then in the off-state. This diode is preferably of the isolation well type, so as to be isolated from the substrate (i.e. the ground) on which is formed transistor M1, to reduce leakage currents.
Additionally, the source of transistor M1 is connected, on the one hand, to the ground through a capacitor C, and on the other hand, to output Q of circuit 5 through two series-connected inverter stages for transforming the voltage across capacitor C into a logic signal. Conventionally, each inverter stage comprises a pMOS transistor 28, 30, and an nMOS transistor 29, 31, which are series-connected between voltage source Vdd and the ground. Transistors 21 to 31 are constructed so that a very small voltage across the capacitor provides a logic level 1 at output Q.
In addition, the gate of transistor M1 is connected to the output of an AND gate 22 whose inputs are connected to a circuit 32 for detecting supply voltage Vdd and to the output of an OR gate 21, respectively. The OR gate 21 comprises three input channels, namely a first channel connected to output Q, a second channel connected to the charge control input Chrg, and a third channel connected to the discharge control input Dchrg.
As shown in
To control the charging of capacitor C, CPU 2 sends a pulse at the charge input Chrg of circuit 5 (see curve in
Conversely, if the circuit is powered OFF, Enable signal goes low, so that the output of AND gate 22 goes low, which turns transistor M1 OFF. Therefore, capacitor C is no longer supplied with a voltage and discharges through the drain of transistor M1 (through the leakage current from the drain-substrate diode in the transistor). When the circuit is non longer powered, output Q follows supply voltage VDD and therefore falls to 0. As long as time Δt, corresponding to the capacitor discharge circuit time constant has not elapsed, the voltage across capacitor C remains greater than threshold voltage VTH. As a consequence, as shown in
Within circuit 5, the time constant Δt is the time period during which the integrated circuit 1 has to be powered-off for capacitor C to discharge. The value of Δt can be obtained from the following formula:
If the power supply Vdd of the integrated circuit is stopped, capacitor C slowly discharges because of the very small leakage currents which flow through transistor M1. As a consequence, even if the capacitance of capacitor C is very small, namely a few pF, the voltage across capacitor C remains greater than the triggering threshold of the inverter stages during time period Δt.
Within an MOS component, C can be 10 pF, ΔV can be 2V, and I can be 10 pA. Under these conditions, the time constant Δt equals 2 secs. Typically, with MOS technology, this time constant can be as high as 5 secs. To increase time constant Δt, several capacitors can advantageously be connected in parallel. If, while capacitor C charges, CPU 2 sends a pulse on the discharge input Dchrg, transistor 27 turns on, which connects drain of transistor M1 to the ground, so that capacitor C then discharges nearly instantaneously, both transistor M1 and 27 having a small resistance in the ON-state.
During a very short time period, it can be seen that the voltage source Vdd is directly connected to the ground through transistor 27, diode D1 and transistor 24. This electrical mismatch is solved by overdimensioning transistor 27 and by making transistor 24 resistive (by reducing its size). In fact, this mismatch will last as long as capacitor C discharges and causes output Q to switch.
As soon as the voltage across capacitor C again falls below VTH, transistor 28 turns on, whereas transistor 29 turns off. Transistor 30 then in turn switches to the off-state, whereas transistor 31 switches to the on state, so that output Q is connected to the ground and thus goes to logic level 0.
The length of discharge control pulse Dchrg should also be larger than the discharge time of capacitor C through transistors M1 and 27, until VTH is reached. It should be noted that the discharge control command is applied to OR gate 21 so as to make sure that capacitor C discharges entirely. Without this provision, the discharging of capacitor could be stopped as soon as this voltage again falls below voltage VTH, time from which signal Q goes low again, which would disable gate 21 and therefore transistor M1.
In normal operation, output Q (curve in
If the authentication calculations (
If, thereafter, an attempt is made to reset circuit 1 by powering it off for a short duration smaller than the discharge time of capacitor C, CPU 2, which executes the initialization procedure, detects that signal Q is still high, which indicates that capacitor C is not entirely discharged and disables itself (
During a DPA analysis of the integrated circuit, therefore, it is necessary to wait until capacitor C is discharged between each acquisition sequence of current measurement samples, which considerably lengthens the time taken to carry-out such an analysis.
To entirely suppress the possibility that such an analysis be performed, a provision can be made so that, before each disabling operation, CPU 2 increments a disable counter stored within the EEPROM memory and indefinitely disables itself when the counted value reaches or exceeds some predefined threshold. The indefinite disabling of the integrated circuit can for example include erasing the secret key that is stored within the EEPROM memory, or more generally, in erasing all confidential data stored within this memory, or else, the whole contents thereof.
A further provision can also be to connect the drain of transistor M1 to an nMOS transistor 26 having its gate connected to a test control input and its source connected to a circuit 31 comprising a plurality of nMOS transistors connected in parallel between the source of transistor 26 and the ground, these transistors being connected in the off-state (with their gate grounded). These transistors have the same size as transistor M1, so that the leakage current which discharges capacitance C is n times greater than that of M1, where n is the number of transistors in circuit 33. This circuit 33 therefore allows time constant Δt=RC of the timer circuit to be reduced to a value that will allow tests to be performed on integrated circuit 1 (where R corresponds to the resistance of circuit 33 and C is the capacitance of capacitor C).
Of course, the test command should be made sufficiently inaccessible so that it could not be executed by possible pirates.
According to a modification of the present invention, several timer circuits 5 can be provided within integrated circuit 1, such as one circuit per authentication calculation sequence. As shown in
In this way, if the same calculation sequence is requested twice during the same authentication procedure without powering-off circuit 1 for a sufficient time period, CPU 2 detects it by reading the value of signal Qi corresponding to the calculation sequence, and disables itself.