Formalizing the Effect of Feistel Cipher Structures on Differential Cache Attacks

The success of a side-channel attack depends mainly on three factors, namely, the cipher algorithm, the attack platform, and the measurement noise. In this paper, we consider a class of side-channel attacks known as differential cache attacks on Feistel ciphers, and develop a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between the attack´s success, the target platform, and the cipher algorithm. The framework allows a comparison of various differential cache attack forms, and is supported by case studies on the block ciphers CLEFIA and CAMELLIA. To understand the effect of noise in the attack´s success, the paper uses empirical methods on standard Intel platforms in a time driven side-channel analysis scenario.