Covert and side channels in buildings and the prototype of a building-aware active warden

Wendzel, Steffen

doi:10.1109/icc.2012.6364876

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Covert channels ICC.1 and ICC.2 are quite generic and should be implementable for other protocols representing the same paradigm. Some examples of protocols that are using the publish−subscribe model include XEP−0060, 13 which is an XMPP extension that provides public/subscribe functionalities, and Google Cloud Pub/Sub, 14 which uses HTTPS for the message transport. Other ICCs are more MQTT-specific and to be implementable in other protocols, similar features like retain messages or clear/persistent sessions must exist in them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, several works have been published that deploy data hiding techniques in some IoT protocols, like several storage covert channels in the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) [12], two storage and one timing covert channels in the Building Automation and Control Networking Protocol (BACnet) [13], six storage and two timing covert channels in the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) [14], etc. Wendzel et al [15] have shown that one can hide data in a cyber-physical system (e.g., smart building), by slightly modifying some of its components, like sensors, controllers, actuators, etc., as well as by storing secret data in unused registers.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Covert Channels in the MQTT-Based Internet of Things

et al. 2019

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Network covert channels are a part of the information hiding research area that deals with the secret transfer of information over communication networks. Covert channels can be utilized, for instance, for data leakage and stealthy malware communications. While data hiding in communication networks has been studied within the last years for several major communication protocols, currently no work is available that investigates covert channels for the publish-subscriber model. To fill this gap, we present the first comprehensive study of covert channels in a protocol utilizing the publish-subscriber model, i.e., the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol which is widely deployed in Internet of Things (IoT) environments. In particular, we describe seven direct and six indirect covert channels and we evaluate and categorize them using the network information hiding patterns approach. Finally, in order to prove that MQTT-based covert channels are practically feasible and effective, we implement the chosen data hiding scheme and perform its experimental evaluation. INDEX TERMS MQTT, network steganography, network covert channels, data hiding, information hiding, IoT.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covert Channels in the MQTT-Based Internet of Things

et al. 2019

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“…Cabaj et al [29] stated that most of the published papers regarding covert channels in IoT utilized data-hiding techniques in some IoT protocols. For example, some storage covert channels exploit the extensible messaging and presence Protocol [30], one timing covert channel and two storage covert channels use the building automation and control networking protocol [31] and two timing covert channels and six storage covert channels exploit the constrained application protocol (CoAP) [32], an extended work which includes power consumption analysis of these covert channels of CoAP, which is given in [33]. Moreover, Smith [34] indicated that while CoAP is widely used in IoT, it has mostly been ignored in covert channel research.…”

Section: A Covert Channels Over Iotmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covert Channel Detection: Machine Learning Approaches

Elsadig

Gafar

2022

IEEE Access

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The advanced development of computer networks and communication technologies has made covert communications easier to construct, faster, undetectable and more secure than ever. A covert channel is a path through which secret messages can be leaked by violating a system security policy. The detection of such dangerous, unwatchable, and hidden threats is still one of the most challenging aspects. This threat exploits methods that are not dedicated to communication purposes, meaning that traditional security measures fail to detect its existence. This review has introduced a brief introduction of covert channel definitions, types and developments, with a particular focus on detection techniques using machine learning (ML) approaches. It provides a thorough review of the most common covert channels and ML techniques that are used to counter them, as well as addressing their achievements and limitations. In addition, this paper introduces a comparative experimental study for some common ML approaches that are commonly used in this field. Accordingly, the performance of these classifiers was evaluated and reported. The paper concludes that our information is still at risk, nothing is said to be secured and more work on the detection of covert channels is required.INDEX TERMS Classification algorithms, covert channel detection, machine learning, covert traffic, covert storage channel, cover timing channel, deep learning, network traffic, network covert channels, overt traffic.

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“…The authors of [34] developed detection and mitigation tools for covert storage and covert timing channel attacks with a BACNet Firewall Router (BFR) -which is available for download. Other papers propose traffic normalization methods like [63] against covert channels and side channels, and [64] exemplified using BACnet. Other works focused more on detection.…”

Section: Intrusion Detection and Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Security of Smart Buildings: a Systematic Literature Review

Ciholas,

Lennie,

Sadigova

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Smart Buildings are networks of connected devices and software in charge of automatically managing and controlling several building functions such as HVAC, fire alarms, lighting, shading and more. These systems evolved from mostly electronic and mechanical elements to complex systems relying on IT and wireless technologies and networks. This exposes smart buildings to new risks and threats that need to be enumerated and addressed. Research efforts have been done in several areas related to security in smart buildings but a clear overview of the research field is missing. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic literature review that provides a thorough understanding of the state of the art in research on the security of smart buildings. We found that the field of smart buildings security is growing significantly in complexity due to the many protocols introduced recently and that the research community is already studying. We also found an important lack of empirical evaluations, though evaluations on testbeds and real systems seems to be growing. Finally, we found an almost complete lack of consideration of non-technical aspects, such as social, organisational, and human factors, which are crucial in this type of systems, where ownership and liability is not always clear.

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Covert and side channels in buildings and the prototype of a building-aware active warden

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Covert Channels in the MQTT-Based Internet of Things

Covert Channels in the MQTT-Based Internet of Things

Covert Channel Detection: Machine Learning Approaches

The Security of Smart Buildings: a Systematic Literature Review

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