--- title: "Breaking AES with an Oscilloscope" url: https://daily.dev/posts/breaking-aes-with-an-oscilloscope-t7ncreiu6 source_url: https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/1761.php type: article source: "EmbeddedRelated" published: 2026-05-31T07:48:27.703Z updated: 2026-05-31T08:55:24.020Z tags: ["security"] reading_time: 17 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Breaking AES with an Oscilloscope **[EmbeddedRelated](https://daily.dev/sources/embeddedrelated)** · 17 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Differential power analysis (DPA) is a side-channel attack that recovers AES encryption keys by analyzing thousands of power traces captured with an oscilloscope. By controlling plaintext inputs, recording power consumption during AES128-ECB encryption, and statistically correlating power fluctuations with the output of the first-round S-box lookup, an attacker can guess each of the 16 key bytes independently (256 guesses each) rather than brute-forcing 2^128 combinations. A live demo using a ChipWhisperer-Nano recovered a full 16-byte AES key in about six minutes. Countermeasures include inserting random delays into the AES routine, adding noise via concurrent peripheral activity, and using side-channel-resistant AES implementations. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [NDSS 2025 – On Borrowed Time – Preventing Static Side-Channel Analysis](https://daily.dev/posts/ndss-2025-on-borrowed-time-preventing-static-side-channel-analysis-yg0har6it) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Contrary to popular superstition, AES 128 is just fine in a post-quantum world](https://daily.dev/posts/contrary-to-popular-superstition-aes-128-is-just-fine-in-a-post-quantum-world-lz9z1ekgh) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[PDF\] Is Your Bluetooth Chip Leaking Secrets via RF Signals?](https://daily.dev/posts/pdf-is-your-bluetooth-chip-leaking-secrets-via-rf-signals--oseygahry) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/breaking-aes-with-an-oscilloscope-t7ncreiu6)