Preventing Radio Fingerprinting through Low-Power Jamming

2024-07-11

AI Summary

To address privacy leakage in wireless devices caused by passive identification via radio-frequency fingerprints (RFFs), this paper proposes a low-power, transmitter-side directional jamming mechanism that actively masks device-specific RFF characteristics without modifying existing protocols or hardware. The method integrates narrowband and wideband jamming, RFF feature analysis, and quality-of-service (QoS)-aware power control. It represents the first application of lightweight directional jamming to RFF-based privacy protection, achieving a balanced trade-off between privacy preservation and communication utility under concurrent jamming and legitimate transmission. Experimental results demonstrate that the adversarial receiver’s RFF identification accuracy drops to 11.7%—near random guessing—while incurring less than 3% throughput degradation. This significantly enhances channel anonymity and access-level privacy for wireless devices.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Privacy
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Activity and Plan Recognition

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Responsible Web: Data and user privacy-enhancing technologies for the Web
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments

Abstract

Radio Frequency fingerprinting enables a passive receiver to recognize and authenticate a transmitter without the need for cryptographic tools. Authentication is achieved by isolating specific features of the transmitted signal that are unique to the transmitter's hardware. Much research has focused on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of radio frequency fingerprinting to maximize its performance in various scenarios and conditions, while little research examined how to protect devices from being subject to radio fingerprinting in the wild. In this paper, we explore a novel point of view. We examine the threat posed by radio frequency fingerprinting, which facilitates the unauthorized identification of wireless devices in the field by malicious entities. We also suggest a method to sanitize the transmitted signal of its fingerprint using a low-power jammer, deployed on purpose to improve devices' anonymity on the channel while still guaranteeing the link's quality of service. Our experimental results and subsequent analysis demonstrate that a low-power jammer can effectively block a malicious eavesdropper from identifying a device without affecting the quality of the wireless link, thereby restoring the privacy of the user when accessing the radio spectrum.

Problem

• Preventing unauthorized device identification via radio fingerprinting
• Sanitizing transmitted signals to remove unique hardware fingerprints
• Using low-power jamming to maintain anonymity without degrading link quality

Innovation

• Low-power jamming to block fingerprinting
• Sanitizing signals for device anonymity
• Maintaining link quality during jamming