Optical Attack
Optical attacks use cameras or light sensors to observe LED indicators, screen reflections, or chip light emission of a cryptographic device, leaking keys or data.
Purpose
They assess visual leakage risks of devices, proving that optical channels can serve as side channels for cryptographic information.
Mechanism
A high-magnification camera reads the LED blink patterns of a smart-card reader to infer communication content; or an infrared camera observes backside light emission of the chip to read SRAM state.
Use cases
- Smart-card reader security
- Optical side-channel assessment
- Physical security