Work

Analog Physical-Layer Relay Attacks with Application to Bluetooth and Phase-Based Ranging

Year: 2022

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Today, we use smartphones as multi-purpose devices that communicate with their environment to implement context-aware services, including asset tracking, indoor localization, contact tracing, or access control. As a de-facto standard, Bluetooth is available in virtually every smartphone to provide short-range wireless communication. Importantly, many Bluetooth-driven applications such as Phone as a Key (PaaK) for vehicles and buildings require proximity of legitimate devices, which must be protected against unauthorized access. In earlier access control systems, attackers were able to violate proximity-verification through relay station attacks. However, the vulnerability of Bluetooth against such attacks was yet unclear as existing relay attack strategies are not applicable or can be defeated through wireless distance measurement.

Source: ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (WiSec)

DOI: 10.1145/3507657.3528536

Authors: Paul Staat, Kai Jansen, Christian Zenger, Harald Elders-Boll, Christof Paar

Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Bluetooth and Wireless Communication Technologies

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Award: EXC 2092: CyberSicherheit im Zeitalter großskaliger Angreifer (CASA)