Impact of flush+reload cache side-channel attack on the cps environment and detection technique of flush+reload cache side-channel attack

The security of computer systems is highly critical in CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) as the use of physical systems controlled by compromised computing systems poses a threat to the users. In this paper, we first describe a security attack that exploits the weaknesses of computer hardware, known as the cache-side channel attack, and discuss the impact of the attack on the CPS environment. Next, we propose a two-stage attack detection technique that can dynamically detect the cache-side attack based on flush+reload by using hardware performance counters while supporting online monitoring. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed technique can detect the attacker processes effectively with zero failure rates when co-operating with certain applications. © ICROS 2021.