15,315 research outputs found
Droplet: A New Denial-of-Service Attack on Low Power Wireless Sensor Networks
In this paper we present a new kind of Denial-of-Service attack against the PHY layer of low power wireless sensor networks. Overcoming the very limited range of jamming-based attacks, this attack can penetrate deep into a target network with high power efficiency. We term this the Droplet attack, as it attains enormous disruption by dropping small, payload-less frame headers to its victim's radio receiver, depriving the latter of bandwidth and sleep time. We demonstrate the Droplet attack's high damage rate to full duty-cycle receivers, and further show that a high frequency version of Droplet can even force nodes running on very low duty-cycle MAC protocols to drop most of their packets
A Survey on Wireless Security: Technical Challenges, Recent Advances and Future Trends
This paper examines the security vulnerabilities and threats imposed by the
inherent open nature of wireless communications and to devise efficient defense
mechanisms for improving the wireless network security. We first summarize the
security requirements of wireless networks, including their authenticity,
confidentiality, integrity and availability issues. Next, a comprehensive
overview of security attacks encountered in wireless networks is presented in
view of the network protocol architecture, where the potential security threats
are discussed at each protocol layer. We also provide a survey of the existing
security protocols and algorithms that are adopted in the existing wireless
network standards, such as the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the long-term
evolution (LTE) systems. Then, we discuss the state-of-the-art in
physical-layer security, which is an emerging technique of securing the open
communications environment against eavesdropping attacks at the physical layer.
We also introduce the family of various jamming attacks and their
counter-measures, including the constant jammer, intermittent jammer, reactive
jammer, adaptive jammer and intelligent jammer. Additionally, we discuss the
integration of physical-layer security into existing authentication and
cryptography mechanisms for further securing wireless networks. Finally, some
technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are
summarized and the future trends in wireless security are discussed.Comment: 36 pages. Accepted to Appear in Proceedings of the IEEE, 201
Vulnerability of LTE to Hostile Interference
LTE is well on its way to becoming the primary cellular standard, due to its
performance and low cost. Over the next decade we will become dependent on LTE,
which is why we must ensure it is secure and available when we need it.
Unfortunately, like any wireless technology, disruption through radio jamming
is possible. This paper investigates the extent to which LTE is vulnerable to
intentional jamming, by analyzing the components of the LTE downlink and uplink
signals. The LTE physical layer consists of several physical channels and
signals, most of which are vital to the operation of the link. By taking into
account the density of these physical channels and signals with respect to the
entire frame, as well as the modulation and coding schemes involved, we come up
with a series of vulnerability metrics in the form of jammer to signal ratios.
The ``weakest links'' of the LTE signals are then identified, and used to
establish the overall vulnerability of LTE to hostile interference.Comment: 4 pages, see below for citation. M. Lichtman, J. Reed, M. Norton, T.
Clancy, "Vulnerability of LTE to Hostile Interference'', IEEE Global
Conference on Signal and Information Processing (GlobalSIP), Dec 201
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