Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security

George Margelis; Xenofon Fafoutis; Robert J. Piechocki; George Oikonomou; Theo Tryfonas; Paul Thomas

doi:10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security

George Margelis, Xenofon Fafoutis, Robert J. Piechocki, George Oikonomou, Theo Tryfonas, Paul Thomas

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

5 Citations (Scopus)

505 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The confidentiality of communications in the Internet of Things (IoT) is critical, with cryptography being currently the most widely employed method to achieve it. Establishing cryptographically secure communication links between two transceivers requires the pre-agreement on some key, unknown to an external attacker. In recent years there has been growing interest for techniques that generate a shared random key through observation of the channel and its effects on the exchanged messages. The maximum length of that key is characterised by the Mutual Information (MI) between the observations of the two radios. In this work we examine the practical limits of the MI of off-the-shelf transceivers communicating through the IEEE 802.15.4 specification in an indoor office environment, and calculate the secret-key capacity, that is, the maximum length of an extracted secret-key in the presence of an eavesdropper. Furthermore, we study how using groups of observations can affect the MI and both analytically and experimentally prove that grouping observations leads to better results and an increased key-capacity.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016)
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of a meeting held 12-14 December 2016, Reston, Virginia, USA
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	311-316
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781509041305
ISBN (Print)	9781509041312
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415
Publication status	Published - Mar 2017
Event	3rd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things, WF-IoT 2016 - Reston, United States Duration: 12 Dec 2016 → 14 Dec 2016

Conference

Conference	3rd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things, WF-IoT 2016
Country/Territory	United States
City	Reston
Period	12/12/16 → 14/12/16

Research Groups and Themes

Digital Health
SPHERE

Access to Document

10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

Full-text PDF (accepted author manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via IEEE at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7845415/ . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 4.67 MB

Handle.net

Persistent link

Cite this

Margelis, G., Fafoutis, X., Piechocki, R. J., Oikonomou, G., Tryfonas, T., & Thomas, P. (2017). Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security. In 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016): Proceedings of a meeting held 12-14 December 2016, Reston, Virginia, USA (pp. 311-316). Article 7845415 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). https://doi.org/10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

@inproceedings{ae76486ece30440caf6dd6a16aa57140,

title = "Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security",

abstract = "The confidentiality of communications in the Internet of Things (IoT) is critical, with cryptography being currently the most widely employed method to achieve it. Establishing cryptographically secure communication links between two transceivers requires the pre-agreement on some key, unknown to an external attacker. In recent years there has been growing interest for techniques that generate a shared random key through observation of the channel and its effects on the exchanged messages. The maximum length of that key is characterised by the Mutual Information (MI) between the observations of the two radios. In this work we examine the practical limits of the MI of off-the-shelf transceivers communicating through the IEEE 802.15.4 specification in an indoor office environment, and calculate the secret-key capacity, that is, the maximum length of an extracted secret-key in the presence of an eavesdropper. Furthermore, we study how using groups of observations can affect the MI and both analytically and experimentally prove that grouping observations leads to better results and an increased key-capacity.",

author = "George Margelis and Xenofon Fafoutis and Piechocki, {Robert J.} and George Oikonomou and Theo Tryfonas and Paul Thomas",

year = "2017",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781509041312",

pages = "311--316",

booktitle = "2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016)",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)",

address = "United States",

note = "3rd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things, WF-IoT 2016 ; Conference date: 12-12-2016 Through 14-12-2016",

}

Margelis, G, Fafoutis, X, Piechocki, RJ , Oikonomou, G , Tryfonas, T & Thomas, P 2017, Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security. in 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016): Proceedings of a meeting held 12-14 December 2016, Reston, Virginia, USA., 7845415, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 311-316, 3rd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things, WF-IoT 2016, Reston, United States, 12/12/16. https://doi.org/10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security. / Margelis, George; Fafoutis, Xenofon; Piechocki, Robert J. et al.
2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016): Proceedings of a meeting held 12-14 December 2016, Reston, Virginia, USA. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2017. p. 311-316 7845415.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security

AU - Margelis, George

AU - Fafoutis, Xenofon

AU - Piechocki, Robert J.

AU - Oikonomou, George

AU - Tryfonas, Theo

AU - Thomas, Paul

PY - 2017/3

Y1 - 2017/3

N2 - The confidentiality of communications in the Internet of Things (IoT) is critical, with cryptography being currently the most widely employed method to achieve it. Establishing cryptographically secure communication links between two transceivers requires the pre-agreement on some key, unknown to an external attacker. In recent years there has been growing interest for techniques that generate a shared random key through observation of the channel and its effects on the exchanged messages. The maximum length of that key is characterised by the Mutual Information (MI) between the observations of the two radios. In this work we examine the practical limits of the MI of off-the-shelf transceivers communicating through the IEEE 802.15.4 specification in an indoor office environment, and calculate the secret-key capacity, that is, the maximum length of an extracted secret-key in the presence of an eavesdropper. Furthermore, we study how using groups of observations can affect the MI and both analytically and experimentally prove that grouping observations leads to better results and an increased key-capacity.

AB - The confidentiality of communications in the Internet of Things (IoT) is critical, with cryptography being currently the most widely employed method to achieve it. Establishing cryptographically secure communication links between two transceivers requires the pre-agreement on some key, unknown to an external attacker. In recent years there has been growing interest for techniques that generate a shared random key through observation of the channel and its effects on the exchanged messages. The maximum length of that key is characterised by the Mutual Information (MI) between the observations of the two radios. In this work we examine the practical limits of the MI of off-the-shelf transceivers communicating through the IEEE 802.15.4 specification in an indoor office environment, and calculate the secret-key capacity, that is, the maximum length of an extracted secret-key in the presence of an eavesdropper. Furthermore, we study how using groups of observations can affect the MI and both analytically and experimentally prove that grouping observations leads to better results and an increased key-capacity.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015153051&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

DO - 10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

AN - SCOPUS:85015153051

SN - 9781509041312

SP - 311

EP - 316

BT - 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016)

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

T2 - 3rd IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things, WF-IoT 2016

Y2 - 12 December 2016 through 14 December 2016

ER -

Margelis G, Fafoutis X, Piechocki RJ , Oikonomou G , Tryfonas T, Thomas P. Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security. In 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016): Proceedings of a meeting held 12-14 December 2016, Reston, Virginia, USA. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 2017. p. 311-316. 7845415 Epub 2017 Feb 9. doi: 10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845415

Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security

Abstract

Conference

Research Groups and Themes

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

SPHERE (EPSRC IRC)

Cite this

Practical limits of the secret key-capacity for IoT physical layer security

Abstract

Conference

Research Groups and Themes

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

SPHERE (EPSRC IRC)

Cite this