Protecting Encryption Keys in Mobile Systems Against Memory Errors

Authors

  • Jianing Zhao College of William and Mary
  • Peter Kemper College of William and Mary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.14-12-2015.2262698

Keywords:

mobile systems, encryption, fault injection, simulation, memory errors, software reliability

Abstract

Beyond its use to encrypt data, an encryption key can be used as a mean to control access to data on a mobile de-vice by leveraging a cloud service. This implies that a key is present in a mobile device only when it is on demand and authorized by the cloud, the key is evicted when it is not in use. CleanOS is an example system that is based on this concept. For security reasons, keys are stored only in DRAM memory during execution, which makes them susceptible to memory errors. In this paper, we identify scenarios where a memory error that damages a key can escalate to an unrecoverable data loss in a mobile system.

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Published

04-01-2016

How to Cite

Zhao, J. ., & Kemper, P. . (2016). Protecting Encryption Keys in Mobile Systems Against Memory Errors. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Security and Safety, 3(10), e4. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.14-12-2015.2262698

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 10 (2016): EAI Endorsed Transactions on Security and Safety

Section

Research article

License

Copyright (c) 2022 EAI Endorsed Transactions on Security and Safety

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 license, which permits unlimited use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.