Power Analysis Attacks to Cryptographic Circuits: a Comparative Analysis of DPA and CPA

In this paper, techniques to perform power analysis attacks to snatch confidential data from cryptographic circuits are quantitatively compared. In particular, the popular Differential Power Analysis (DPA) and Correlation Power Analysis (CPA) techniques are compared in terms of their effectiveness, explicitly considering both precharged and static logic styles. The analytical evaluation of the main parameters related to the attack allows for better understanding the differences between the two techniques, in contrast to qualitative comparisons that were recently published. Simulation results and experimental measurements on an FPGA implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm are presented to validate the theoretical results.