IEEE 802.11 CSI randomization to preserve location privacy: An empirical evaluation in different scenarios

Cominelli, Marco; Kosterhon, Felix; Gringoli, Francesco; Cigno, Renato Lo; Asadi, Arash

doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2021.107970

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In [26], we presented a simple proof-of-concept showing that proper manipulation at the transmitter can obfuscate a person's actual position. The work in [27] extends the contribution with a deeper analysis in which we have defined the localization problem as a more straightforward classification problem rather than positioning in the Cartesian coordinate space. Still, the obfuscation technique was proven to remain very effective.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…This is not a problem in most cases since APs are fixed and generate most of the traffic; thus, the localization device only needs to filter frames transmitted by the AP to achieve its goal. On the other hand, as we have shown in [26,27], it is possible to obfuscate the information on localization carried by the CSI by properly manipulating the transmitted frames. An active localization system, instead, requires an attacker to use both a transmitter and a receiver.…”

Section: Csi-based Localizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous works [26,27,32], we have focused on passive attacks only, and albeit the final goal is the same, the methodology adopted in those works is different because the CSI manipulation is implemented directly at the transmitter as a pre-distortion of the frames. No additional devices are needed, and the countermeasures can be implemented in the AP alone, as it is the only device of a BSS that we can consider fixed in a given position.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The attacker cannot control which frames to send and when, and training of the localization system may be more complex. We have studied this scenario in previous works [26,27,32], adopting a radically different obfuscation technique based on the pre-distortion of transmitted frames at the AP. However, active attacks could not be prevented with such a technique.…”

Section: Passive Attack's Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

AntiSense: Standard-compliant CSI obfuscation against unauthorized Wi-Fi sensing

Cominelli

Gringoli

Cigno

2022

Computer Communications

Self Cite

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Channel State Information (CSI)-based localization with 802.11 has been proven feasible in multiple scenarios and is becoming a serious threat to people's privacy in workplaces, at home, and maybe even outdoors. Countering unauthorized localization without hampering communications is a non-trivial task, although some very recent works suggest that it is feasible with marginal modification of the 802.11 transmission chain, but this requires modifying 802.11 devices. Furthermore, if the attacker controls two devices and not just a receiver, transmission side signal manipulation cannot help. This work explores the possibility of countering CSI based localization with an active device that, instead of jamming signals to avoid that a malicious receiver exploits CSI information to locate a person, superimpose on frames a copy of the same frame signal whose goal is not destroying reception as in jamming, but only obfuscate the location-relevant information carried by the CSI. A prototype implementation and early results look promising; they show the feasibility of location obfuscation with high efficiency and excellent preservation of communication performance, and indicate that the technique works both against passive attacks, where the attacker controls only a receiver, and active ones, where he/she controls both a transmitter and a receiver. These results pave the road for further research on smart spaces that preserve users' privacy with a technical solution and not only via legal prescriptions.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Csi-based Localizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Passive Attack's Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

AntiSense: Standard-compliant CSI obfuscation against unauthorized Wi-Fi sensing

Cominelli

Gringoli

Cigno

2022

Computer Communications

Self Cite

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“…To prevent probing the environment based on the WiFi signal, a direct solution is adding artificial channel response inside the transmitter. Unfortunately, none of the COTS WiFi chips support this feature, and therefore this can only be implemented in a SDR transmitter [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

openwifi CSI fuzzer for authorized sensing and covert channels

Jiao

Mehari

Liu

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 14th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks

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CSI (Channel State Information) of WiFi systems contains the environment channel response between the transmitter and the receiver, so the people/objects and their movement in between can be sensed. To get CSI, the receiver performs channel estimation based on the pre-known training field of the transmitted WiFi signal. CSI related technology is useful in many cases, but it also brings concerns on privacy and security. In this paper, we open sourced a CSI fuzzer to enhance the privacy and security of WiFi CSI applications. It is built and embedded into the transmitter of openwifi, which is an open source full-stack WiFi chip design, to prevent unauthorized sensing without sacrificing the WiFi link performance. The CSI fuzzer imposes an artificial channel response to the signal before it is transmitted, so the CSI seen by the receiver will indicate the actual channel response combined with the artificial response. Only the authorized receiver, that knows the artificial response, can calculate the actual channel response and perform the CSI sensing. Another potential application of the CSI fuzzer is covert channels based on a set of pre-defined artificial response patterns. Our work resolves the pain point of implementing the anti-sensing idea based on the commercial off-the-shelf WiFi devices.

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Improved TDD operation on Software-Defined Radio platforms towards future wireless standards

Havinga

Jiao

Aslam

et al. 2023

Computer Communications

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IEEE 802.11 CSI randomization to preserve location privacy: An empirical evaluation in different scenarios

Cited by 16 publications

References 7 publications

AntiSense: Standard-compliant CSI obfuscation against unauthorized Wi-Fi sensing

AntiSense: Standard-compliant CSI obfuscation against unauthorized Wi-Fi sensing

openwifi CSI fuzzer for authorized sensing and covert channels

Improved TDD operation on Software-Defined Radio platforms towards future wireless standards

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