Secrecy beyond encryption: obfuscating transmission signatures in wireless communications

Author

Rahbari, Hanif ; Krunz, Marwan

Author_Institution

Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Volume

53

Issue

12

fYear

2015

Firstpage

54

Lastpage

60

Abstract

The privacy of a wireless user and the operation of a wireless network can be threatened by the leakage of side-channel information (SCI), even when encryption and authentication are employed. In this article, we describe various passive (traffic analysis) and active (jamming) attacks that are facilitated by SCI. Our goal is to highlight the need for novel PHY-layer security techniques that can be used to complement classical encryption methods. We discuss several of these techniques along with advanced hardware that exhibits promising capabilities for countering privacy and SCI-related attacks.

Keywords

cryptography; jamming; radio networks; telecommunication security; telecommunication traffic; PHY-layer security techniques; SCI-related attacks; active attacks; encryption methods; jamming; side-channel information; traffic analysis; transmission signatures; wireless communications; wireless network; wireless user; Communication system security; Encryption; Jamming; Payloads; Physical layer; Privacy; Wireless communication;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCOM.2015.7355566

Filename

7355566