Cache Side Channels
Yinqian Zhang · 2017
Cache side channels are a type of attack vectors through which an adversary infers secret information of a running program by observing its use of CPU caches or other caching hardware. The study of cache side channels, particularly access-driven cache side channels, is gaining traction among security researchers in recent years. A large volume of papers on cache side-channel attacks or defenses is being published in both security and computer architecture conferences each year. However, due to the diversity of the research goals, methods, and perspectives, it becomes much harder for researchers new to this field to keep track of the frontiers of this research topic. As such, in this tutorial, we will provide a high-level overview of the studies of cache side channels to help other security researchers to comprehend the state of the art of this research area, and to identify research problems that have not been addressed by the community. We also hope to bridge the gaps between the security community and the computer architecture community on this specific research topic by summarizing research papers from both sides.