Differential power analysis attack using the Upper Tailed T-test distinguisher

The implementation of cryptographic algorithms on both software and hardware introduced an access to occurrences of undesirable events of secret information leakage known as Side-Channel leakage. Information analysis methods which analyze the Side-Channel leakage to deduce parts of the secret cryptographic key are called Side-Channel Attacks (SCA). Differential Side-Channel Analysis (DSCA) attack as one of these SCA is the dominating one because of its efficiency and relatively low cost compared to other SCA. In this paper we propose the Upper Tailed T-test statistical method as an effective distinguisher for Differential Side-Channel Analysis. We show how the analysis using the Upper Tailed T-Test saves the attacker 40% of the efforts required in revealing parts of the key in comparison to traditional methods.