CyLab Seminar: Sam Pagliarini

February 17, 2025

12:00 p.m. ET

Zoom or CIC room 4105, Panther Hollow

Sam Pagliarini

*Please note: this CyLab seminar is open only to partners and Carnegie Mellon University faculty, students, and staff.

Speaker:
Sam Pagliarini
Special Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University

Talk Title:
REPQC: Reverse Engineering and Backdooring Hardware Accelerators for Post-quantum Cryptography

Abstract:
Significant research efforts have been dedicated to designing cryptographic algorithms that are quantum-resistant. The motivation is clear: robust quantum computers, once available, will render current cryptographic standards vulnerable. Thus, we need new Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms, and, due to the inherent complexity of such algorithms, there is also a demand to accelerate them in hardware. In this talk, we show that PQC hardware accelerators can be backdoored by two different adversaries located in the chip supply chain. We propose REPQC, a sophisticated reverse engineering algorithm that can be employed to confidently identify hashing operations (i.e., Keccak) within the PQC accelerator - the location of which serves as an anchor for finding secret information to be leaked. From there, an adversary can proceed to mount specific attacks that make a quantum-resistant accelerator vulnerable to classic hardware security threats.

Bio:
Samuel Pagliarini is a Special Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. His research interests include Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Computer Aided Design, and Hardware Security. Prof. Pagliarini holds a PhD from Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France. He also holds a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. From 2019 to 2023, Prof. Pagliarini held a tenured professor position at Tallinn University of Technology where he led the Centre for Hardware Security. His research on hardware security and chip design has been funded by several research agencies in the US and in Europe, including the NSF, DARPA, IARPA, and the European Commission.

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