Wireless Spoofing-Attack Prevention Using Radio-Propagation Characteristics

A spoofing attack is a critical issue in wireless communication in embedded systems in which a malicious transmitter outside a system attempts to be genuine. As a countermeasure against this, we propose a device-authentication method based on position identification using radio-propagation characteristics (RPCs). Since RPCs are natural phenomena, this method does not depend on information processing such as encryption technology. We call the space from which attacks achieve success "attack space". By formulating the relationship between combinations of transceivers and the attack space, this method can be used in embedded systems. In this research, we consider two RPCs, the received signal strength ratio (RSSR) and the time difference of arrival (TDoA), and construct the attack-space model which use these RPCs simultaneously for preventing wireless spoofing-attacks. We explain the results of a validity evaluation for the proposed model based on radio-wave-propagation simulation assuming free space and a noisy environment.