Effective memory fault injection attacks: formalization and properties

We provide the basis of a theoretical framework for dealing with computer attacks based on effective injections of memory faults. Faults are injected into the physical memory of a computer system by an attacker whose aim is to defeat the integrity of the system. The attacker follows a planned strategy: first she observes the computational behavior of the system under attack and then she determines effectively (i.e., by means of a preassigned set of algorithmic rules) the faults that should occur on the basis of the information gathered during the observations. Here we consider the case of computer systems modeled by Turing machines.