# Covert Channels & Secure Cache Partitioning

> Building cache side-channels to transmit images and audio across cores — then defending against them.

- Year: 2025
- Period: January–April 2025
- Type: course
- Stack: C, SPEC benchmarks
- Guide: Prof. Biswabandan Panda, IIT Bombay

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- Implemented Flush+Reload and occupancy-based covert channels in C, using them
  to transmit images and audio between cores.
- Designed custom protocols to establish shared memory over the occupancy
  channel, with verified end-to-end communication.
- Built the defensive half as Dynamic Set Partitioning in the Last Level Cache,
  evaluated against baseline on IPC, MPKI, and self-evictions across SPEC
  benchmarks.