Reference-Free Spectral Analysis of EM Side-Channels for Always-on Hardware Trojan Detection
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866914285723058176 |
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| author | Tahghigh, Mahsa Salmani, Hassan |
| author_facet | Tahghigh, Mahsa Salmani, Hassan |
| contents | Always-on hardware Trojans (HTs) pose a critical risk to trusted microelectronics, yet most side-channel detection methods rely on unavailable golden references. We present a reference-free approach that combines time-frequency EM analysis with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). By applying Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) at multiple window sizes, we show that HT-free circuits exhibit fluctuating statistical structure, while always-on HTs leave persistent footprints with fewer, more consistent mixture components. Results on AES-128 demonstrate feasibility without requiring reference models. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_20163 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Reference-Free Spectral Analysis of EM Side-Channels for Always-on Hardware Trojan Detection Tahghigh, Mahsa Salmani, Hassan Cryptography and Security K.6.5; E.3 Always-on hardware Trojans (HTs) pose a critical risk to trusted microelectronics, yet most side-channel detection methods rely on unavailable golden references. We present a reference-free approach that combines time-frequency EM analysis with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). By applying Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) at multiple window sizes, we show that HT-free circuits exhibit fluctuating statistical structure, while always-on HTs leave persistent footprints with fewer, more consistent mixture components. Results on AES-128 demonstrate feasibility without requiring reference models. |
| title | Reference-Free Spectral Analysis of EM Side-Channels for Always-on Hardware Trojan Detection |
| topic | Cryptography and Security K.6.5; E.3 |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20163 |