Getting Started

If you are new to Hardware security NewAE Technology offer two low cost boards with supporting demos and tutorials which enable you to try out a range of real-world hardware attacks.

ChipWhisperer Nano

The ChipWhisperer-Nano is the lowest cost platform for performing side-channel power analysis attacks in training and educational environments. This device has a smaller subset of features compared to the ChipWhisperer-Lite or -Husky, but still allows you to perform many of the tutorials and demos. The use of synchronous sampling ensures that this low-cost device can be used for performing real power analysis of algorithms and devices.

Product Highlights:

8-bit ADC with 20 MS/s sampling rate and fixed-gain front-end allows measurements of on-board and some external targets.
Advanced synchronous clock locking logic samples target power on related clock edges, drastically reducing sample rate requirements compared to power analysis performed with regular oscilloscopes
Single-board solution ideal for teaching and training environments, and design of boards allows easy separation of target for future expansion.
Programmers for STM32Fx (serial bootloader) targets built in, meaning no external equipment required.

Note: This platform has limited VCC-glitching capability and no clock glitching capability, instead primarily focusing on side-channel power analysis.

ChipWhisperer Lite

The ChipWhisperer-Lite represents NewAE Technology Inc.’s most aggressive pursuit of its mission to bring side-channel power analysis and glitching attacks to every engineer and student. The FULLY open-source (hardware, software, firmware, FPGA code) is launching a revolution in hardware security. The ChipWhisperer-Lite integrates hardware for performing power analysis measurement, device programming, glitching, serial communications, and an example target that can be loaded with cryptographic algorithms all into a single board. The single-board version comes in two variants: Atmel XMEGA (8-bit) or STM32F3 Arm (32-bit) target. You can break apart the capture & target side to connect to other targets. The capture portion is available standalone which comes ready with SMA & target connectors but requires an external target.

Product Highlights:

10-bit ADC with 105 MS/s sampling rate combined with up to +55 dB gain amplifier measures small signals easily.
Advanced synchronous clock locking logic samples target power on related clock edges, drastically reducing sample rate requirements compared to power analysis performed with regular oscilloscopes.
Clock and voltage fault injection possible using FPGA-based pulse generation.
Single-board solution ideal for teaching and training environments, and design of boards allows easy separation of target for future expansion.
Programmers for XMEGA (PDI) and STM32Fx (serial bootloader) targets built in, meaning no external equipment required.

Contact us for more information sales(at)hitex.co.uk

ChipWhisperer Series Comparison

Capture and Clock

Analog Capture and Clock	ChipWhisperer-Husky/Plus	ChipWhisperer-Lite	ChipWhisperer-Nano
Sample Buffer Size	131124 samples (Husky Plus: 327828 samples)	24 573 samples	50 000 samples
Presampling	Yes	Yes	No
Phase Adjustment	Yes	Yes, 5ns increments	No
Clock Output	Regular, with glitch inserted, glitch only	Regular, with glitch inserted, glitch only	Regular
Clock Generation Range	10-350MHz	5-200MHz	60MHz, divisible by 2, 4, 8, or 16
Capture Streaming	Yes (>20MS/s max)	No	No
Analog Input	AC-Coupled Differential, adjustable -6.5dB to 55dB low noise gain	AC-Coupled, adjustable low-noise gain from -6.5dB to 55dB	AC-Coupled, fixed gain of 20dB
ADC Trigger	Rising-edge, Falling-edge, High, Low	Rising-edge, Falling-edge, High, Low	Rising-edge
ADC Specs	12-bit 200MS/s (Husky Plus: 250MS/s)	10-bit 105MS/s	8-bit 20MS/s
ADC Offset Adjustment	Yes [0, 2^32)	Yes, [0, 2^32)	No
ADC Decimation	Yes	Yes	No
ADC Clock Source	PLL Generated (Integer Multiple of Int/Ext Clock)	Internally generated (x1 or x4), external input (x1 or x4)	Internally generated, external input

Triggering

Triggering	ChipWhisperer-Husky/Plus	ChipWhisperer-Lite	ChipWhisperer-Nano
Modules	Basic, Analog Pattern, Analog Threshold, UART, Edge Count, Arm Trace	Basic	Basic
Analog Trigger	Sum of Absolute Difference (512 Samples), Analog Level	N/A	N/A
Basic Trigger Inputs	TIO 1-4, nRST, SMB	TIO 1-4, nRST	TIO 4
Basic Trigger Combination	One of OR, AND, NAND	One of OR, AND, NAND	N/A
Sequenced Triggers	2 (Husky Plus: up to 4)	N/A	N/A

IO

IO	ChipWhisperer-Husky/Plus	ChipWhisperer-Lite	ChipWhisperer-Nano
GPIO Voltage	3.3V	3.3V	3.3V
Logic Outputs	TIO 1-4, nRST, PDIC, PDID, User IO D0-7	TIO 1-4, nRST, PDIC, PDID	TIO 1-4, nRST, PDIC, PDID
Logic Inputs	TIO 1-4, User IO D0-7	TIO 1-4	N/A
UART Serial	TIO 1-4 assignment	TIO 1-4 assignment	Fixed TIO 1 and TIO 2
Clock	Fixed, HS2 output, HS1 Input	Fixed, HS2 output, HS1 input	Fixed, HS2 output, HS1 input
Basic Trigger Inputs	TIO 1-4, nRST, SMB, User IO D0-7	TIO 1-4, nRST	TIO 4
Basic Trigger Combination	One of OR, AND, NAND	One of OR, AND, NAND	N/A
Trigger Out	Yes	No	No
Programmers	STM32F UART, XMEGA PDI, AVR ISP, SWD/JTAG (via OpenOCD), SAMBA (AtSAM)	STM32F UART, XMEGA PDI , AVR ISP, SWD/JTAG (via OpenOCD), SAMBA (AtSAM)	STM32F UART, SWD/JTAG (via OpenOCD), SAMBA (AtSAM)
Power rails	3.3V	3.3V	3.3V
User IO Pins	8 Data pins, JTAG, SWD, Arm Trace, Generic, Logic Analyzer	N/A	N/A

Glitching

Glitch	ChipWhisperer-Husky/Plus	ChipWhisperer-Lite	ChipWhisperer-Nano
Voltage Glitching	YES	Yes	Yes
Clock Glitching	YES	Yes	No
Glitch Outputs	Clock-XOR, Clock-OR, Glitch-Only, Enable-Only	Clock-XOR, Clock-OR, Glitch-Only, Enable-Only	Glitch-Only
Glitch Width	Based on Internal PLL (600-1200MHz), 100% (enable-only)	0-49.8% of a clock cycle, 100%	Time increments between [0, 2^32)
Glitch Width Increments	Based on Internal PLL (600-1200MHz)	0.4% of a clock cycle	~8.3ns
Glitch Offset	Based on Internal PLL (600-1200MHz)	0-49.8% of a clock cycle, 100%	Time increments between [0, 2^32), high jitter
Glitch Offset Increments	Based on Internal Pll (600-1200MHz)	0.4% of a clock cycle	~8.3ns, high jitter
Glitch Cycle Offset	[0, 2^32)	[0, 2^32)	N/A
Glitch Cycle Repeat	[0, 8192]	[0, 8192]	N/A
Voltage Glitch Type	High-power, low-power crowbar	High-power, low-power crowbar	Low-power crowbar
Voltage Glitch Pulse Current	20A	20A	4A