A new method for securing elliptic scalar multiplication against side-channel attacks

Abstract

This paper presents a new method for elliptic scalar multiplication with protection against side-channel attacks. We first point out some potential security flaws often overlooked in most previous algorithms and then present a simple ±1-signed encoding scheme that can be used to enhance the security and performance of existing algorithms. In particular, we propose and analyze concrete signed binary and window algorithms based on the proposed ±1-signed encoding. The security of window-family algorithms against a DPA-style attack is also discussed with some possible countermeasures. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004.