Enabling Pre-Silicon Side-Channel Testing of PQC Ciphers (Q23b)
Pre-silicon side-channel leakage assessments allow vulnerabilities to be identified and mitigated early in the design process. This talk addresses the challenges of applying traditional Test Vector Leakage Assessment (TVLA) methodologies to PQC ciphers, which are more complex than traditional cryptographic standards. An optimized approach for pre-silicon side-channel analysis is proposed, focusing on signal reduction and time window narrowing for effective leakage detection. Demonstrations using the FIPS 204 ML-DSA implementation showcase this method’s benefits.