Comodo Cryptography Expert to Present Smart Card Research at Workshop
<p><strong>Jersey City, N.J. — Aug. 22</strong><br />Comodo, a global certification authority and provider of identity- and trust assurance-management solutions, has announced that Dr. Colin Walter, head of cryptography at Comodo's Digital Trust Research Lab, will present his latest findings at the Eighth International Workshop on Information Security Applications on Aug. 27-29 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Jeju Island, Korea. <br /><br />Walter's presentation, "Longer Randomly Blinded RSA Keys May be Weaker Than Shorter Ones," focuses on the limits of certain counter measures to side channel attacks. </p><p>The presentation emphasizes the need for more analysis and standards agreements to the countermeasures before relying on security systems when designing hardware for containing secret cryptographic keys. </p><p>In cryptography, side channel attacks relate to weaknesses in the physical devices (such as smart cards) used to deploy a cryptographic system. </p><p>These weaknesses sometimes can be exploited by an attacker to extract secret keys, enabling the devices to be cloned. </p><p>For example, minute variations in timing, power and electromagnetic radiation can be used to reconstruct the private keys used by a cryptographic token when performing authentication. </p><p>Many randomizing countermeasures are typically employed to decouple the side channel leakage from the keys and data being processed.</p>
