Power Analysis Attack on a Lightweight Block Cipher GIFT

GIFT is a new lightweight block cipher with smaller area and higher efficiency, which is very suitable for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices with constrained resources. The power analysis attack is an efficient method to extract the key from the cryptographic equipment. However, it is not easy to reveal the key by means of power analysis attack, when the cipher is implemented by hardware. In this article, we present the method of power analysis attack against GIFT. Firstly, we implemented GIFT on FPGA using the SAKURA-G board. Then, we explored the impact of point of interest (POI) on power analysis attack. We proposed the method of power analysis attack against the diffusion layer of GIFT. The experimental results show that the result of power analysis attack is affected by POI, and the key can be recovered when POI is registered. We can reveal the key using correlation power analysis, when targeting the diffusion layer of GIFT.