Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder
The benefits of using Deep Learning techniques to enhance side-channel attacks performances have been demonstrated over recent years. Most of the work carried out since then focuses on discriminative models. However, one of their major limitations is the lack of theoretical results. Indeed, this la...
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Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems |
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| Online Access: | https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12214 |
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| author | Sana Boussam Mathieu Carbone Benoît Gérard Guénaël Renault Gabriel Zaid |
| author_facet | Sana Boussam Mathieu Carbone Benoît Gérard Guénaël Renault Gabriel Zaid |
| author_sort | Sana Boussam |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The benefits of using Deep Learning techniques to enhance side-channel attacks performances have been demonstrated over recent years. Most of the work carried out since then focuses on discriminative models. However, one of their major limitations is the lack of theoretical results. Indeed, this lack of theoretical results, especially concerning the choice of neural network architecture to consider or the loss to prioritize to build an optimal model, can be problematic for both attackers and evaluators. Recently, Zaid et al. addressed this problem by proposing a generative model that bridges conventional profiled attacks and deep learning techniques, thus providing a model that is both explicable and interpretable. Nevertheless the proposed model has several limitations. Indeed, the architecture is too complex, higher-order attacks cannot be mounted and desynchronization is not handled by this model. In this paper, we address the first limitation namely the architecture complexity, as without a simpler model, the other limitations cannot be treated properly. To do so, we propose a new generative model that relies on solid theoretical results. This model is based on conditional variational autoencoder and converges towards the optimal statistical model i.e. it performs an optimal attack. By building on and extending the state-of-the-art theoretical works on dimensionality reduction, we integrate into this neural network an optimal dimensionality reduction i.e. a dimensionality reduction that is achieved without any loss of information. This results in a gain of O(D), with D the dimension of traces, compared to Zaid et al. neural network in terms of architecture complexity, while at the same time enhancing the explainability and interpretability. In addition, we propose a new attack strategy based on our neural network, which reduces the attack complexity of generative models from O(N) to O(1), with N the number of generated traces. We validate all our theoretical results experimentally using extensive simulations and various publicly available datasets covering symmetric, asymmetric pre and post-quantum cryptography implementations.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-95892bfa2003433ea20557dbfd1de1dd |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2569-2925 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Ruhr-Universität Bochum |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems |
| spelling | doaj-art-95892bfa2003433ea20557dbfd1de1dd2025-08-20T02:02:57ZengRuhr-Universität BochumTransactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems2569-29252025-06-012025310.46586/tches.v2025.i3.164-211Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoderSana Boussam0Mathieu Carbone1Benoît Gérard2Guénaël Renault3Gabriel Zaid4LIX, INRIA, CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France; Thales ITSEF, Toulouse, FranceThales ITSEF, Toulouse, FranceANSSI, Paris, FranceANSSI, Paris, France; LIX, INRIA, CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, FranceThales ITSEF, Toulouse, France The benefits of using Deep Learning techniques to enhance side-channel attacks performances have been demonstrated over recent years. Most of the work carried out since then focuses on discriminative models. However, one of their major limitations is the lack of theoretical results. Indeed, this lack of theoretical results, especially concerning the choice of neural network architecture to consider or the loss to prioritize to build an optimal model, can be problematic for both attackers and evaluators. Recently, Zaid et al. addressed this problem by proposing a generative model that bridges conventional profiled attacks and deep learning techniques, thus providing a model that is both explicable and interpretable. Nevertheless the proposed model has several limitations. Indeed, the architecture is too complex, higher-order attacks cannot be mounted and desynchronization is not handled by this model. In this paper, we address the first limitation namely the architecture complexity, as without a simpler model, the other limitations cannot be treated properly. To do so, we propose a new generative model that relies on solid theoretical results. This model is based on conditional variational autoencoder and converges towards the optimal statistical model i.e. it performs an optimal attack. By building on and extending the state-of-the-art theoretical works on dimensionality reduction, we integrate into this neural network an optimal dimensionality reduction i.e. a dimensionality reduction that is achieved without any loss of information. This results in a gain of O(D), with D the dimension of traces, compared to Zaid et al. neural network in terms of architecture complexity, while at the same time enhancing the explainability and interpretability. In addition, we propose a new attack strategy based on our neural network, which reduces the attack complexity of generative models from O(N) to O(1), with N the number of generated traces. We validate all our theoretical results experimentally using extensive simulations and various publicly available datasets covering symmetric, asymmetric pre and post-quantum cryptography implementations. https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12214Side-Channel AttacksDeep LearningOptimal Dimensionality ReductionOptimal AttacksGenerative ModelsVariational AutoEncoder |
| spellingShingle | Sana Boussam Mathieu Carbone Benoît Gérard Guénaël Renault Gabriel Zaid Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems Side-Channel Attacks Deep Learning Optimal Dimensionality Reduction Optimal Attacks Generative Models Variational AutoEncoder |
| title | Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder |
| title_full | Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder |
| title_fullStr | Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder |
| title_short | Optimal Dimensionality Reduction using Conditional Variational AutoEncoder |
| title_sort | optimal dimensionality reduction using conditional variational autoencoder |
| topic | Side-Channel Attacks Deep Learning Optimal Dimensionality Reduction Optimal Attacks Generative Models Variational AutoEncoder |
| url | https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12214 |
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