Time Machines, Computer Memory, and Brute Force Attacks Against Smartcards 49
An anonymous reader writes "IEEE Spectrum reports on a method that exploits the decaying contents of unpowered computer memory to create an hourglass-like 'time machine' that rate limits brute force attacks against contactless smartcards and RFIDs. The paper takes an odd twist on the 'cold boot' attack reported four years ago at USENIX Security. Not quite as cool as a hot tub time machine though. "
Full paper (PDF).
Neat trick... (Score:4, Interesting)
Taking advantage of the (statistically) predictable decay rate of data stored in the RFID's SRAM is a cute trick for rough timekeeping, I have to admit.
It makes me wonder, though, and some perfunctory googling isn't giving me the immediate gratification that I demand, is there anything reasonably practical that could modify the decay rate for SRAM, ideally in a way that would be practical for an attack? Does a strong magnetic field affect contemporary transistors in any useful way? Would a hit of radiation before each attack attempt sufficiently scramble the RAM contents before it also scrambled the nonvolatile memory storing the secret being attacked?