Security Mechanisms to Defend against New Attacks on Software-Defined Radio

Ke Li, Xiangzhan Yu, Hongli Zhang, Longfei Wu, Xiaojiang Du, Paul Ratazzi, Mohsen Guizani

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Software-defined radio (SDR) enables the flexible and efficient use of spectrum, which is a key technology to maintain high quality wireless services in the future. However, the flexibility of SDR brings serious security concerns of malicious attacks to the radio equipment. In this paper, we present a novel defense scheme for SDR to avoid the configuration parameters being tampered by malicious software, even if the operating system is comprised. Three manipulation attacks of radio parameters are considered. We developed a module called Security Monitor which is deployed below the operating system (OS) level and above the hardware level, to monitor and verify the configuration parameters in a timely manner. To demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed security mechanism, we implemented the Security Monitor on Ettus Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) software-defined radio nodes, and evaluated its overhead. The experimental results show that the time overheads to detect the three types of manipulation attacks are 2.9 microsecond, 2.86 microsecond, and 3.4 microsecond, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2018 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, ICNC 2018
Pages537-541
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781538636527
DOIs
StatePublished - 19 Jun 2018
Event2018 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, ICNC 2018 - Maui, United States
Duration: 5 Mar 20188 Mar 2018

Publication series

Name2018 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, ICNC 2018

Conference

Conference2018 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, ICNC 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMaui
Period5/03/188/03/18

Keywords

  • SDR
  • Security Monitor
  • compromised OS
  • real-time
  • security policy

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