Cold boot attacks are a serious threat to computer security, where an attacker can steal sensitive information from the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) of a computing device while it is powered off. To mitigate this risk, researchers have proposed various methods for destroying the DRAM content rapidly during power-off/on. In this article, we explore PULSAR-based content destruction as a practical and secure way to destroy DRAM content rapidly.
PULSAR: A Fast DRAM Destruction Tool
PULSAR (Pointer Update Logical System with Associative Read) is a tool that can quickly write a predetermined value to many rows of DRAM with Bulk-Write, and then copy this value to other rows using Multi-RowInit. PULSAR can be used to rapidly destroy the DRAM content by issuing the least number of APA (Address Programmable Automatic) command sequence.
Evaluation: Comparing PULSAR with RowClone and FracDRAM:
We evaluate PULSAR-based content destruction with varying numbers of rows activated, from 2 to 32. We compare PULSAR-based content destruction with two other methods: RowClone and FracDRAM. While RowClone requires more command sequences for activation, FracDRAM has a higher latency. Our results show that PULSAR can leverage up to N-row activation (e.g., 16-row activation) but cannot use 32-row activation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, PULSAR-based content destruction is a practical and secure way to mitigate cold boot attacks by rapidly destroying the DRAM content during power-off/on. By leveraging the associative read mechanism of PULSAR, we can issue the least number of APA command sequence to destroy the DRAM content. Our evaluation shows that PULSAR outperforms RowClone and FracDRAM in terms of activation efficiency and latency. Therefore, PULSAR is an effective tool for protecting sensitive information in computing devices.
