NIGHTs-WATCH: A cache-based side-channel intrusion detector using hardware performance counters

Maria Mushtaq, Ayaz Akram, Maham Chaudhry, Vianney Lapotre, Muhammad Khurram Bhatti, Guy Gogniat

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents a novel run-time detection mechanism, called NIGHTs-WATCH, for access-driven cache-based Side-Channel Attacks (SCAs). It comprises of multiple machine learning models, which use real-time data from hardware performance counters for detection. We perform experiments with two state-of-the-art SCAs (Flush+Reload and Flush+Flush) to demonstrate the detection capability and effectiveness of NIGHTs-WATCH. we provide experimental evaluation using realistic system load conditions and analyze results on detection accuracy, speed, system-wide performance overhead and confusion matrix for used models. Our results show detection accuracy of 99.51%, 99.50% and 99.44% for F+R attack in case of no, average and full load conditions, respectively, with performance overhead of < 2% at the highest detection speed, i.e., within 1% completion of a single RSA encryption round. In case of Flush+Flush, our results show 99.97%, 98.74% and 95.20% detection accuracy for no load, average load and full load conditions, respectively, with performance overhead of < 2% at the highest detection speed, i.e., within 12.5% completion of 400 AES encryption rounds needed to complete the attack. NIGHTs-WATCH shows considerably high detection efficiency under variable system load conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy, HASP 2018
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450365000
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event7th International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy, HASP 2018 - Los Angeles, United States
Duration: 2 Jun 20182 Jun 2018

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference7th International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy, HASP 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLos Angeles
Period2/06/182/06/18

Keywords

  • Machine learning
  • Performance counters
  • Side channel attacks

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