Re: [tlug] Your computer is speaking your private key out loud?!

[Edward Middleton <edward.middleton@example.com>]

On 12/20/2013 10:09 AM, Darren Cook wrote:
> It is not April 1st so I'm a bit stuck here:
>
> http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/new-attack-steals-e-mail-decryption-keys-by-capturing-computer-sounds/
>
> I fully understand how the sound of your CPU will change when under
> load. I therefore understand how by listening to computer noise you
> could tell when a user is decrypting an email.
>
> Where I'm stuck is how that allows you to steal a 4096-bit private key.
> It seems, at best, you could not get any more information than the CPU
> line I see when running top?

CPU noises correspond to certain operations on the processor if you know 
what code the processor is running you can match the noises back to the 
code paths in the machine code for the program, and from that determine 
what was in the registers when the operation happened, which at some 
point will be the RSA key.

Edward