Security Issues in Internet of Things: Vulnerability Analysis of LoRaWAN, Sigfox and NB-IoT

Abstract

One of the key enablers of an increased Internet of Things (IoT) roll-out is Low-Power Wide Area Network (LP-WAN)-a family of technologies tailored for resilient and energy-efficient communication of thousands of devices over large distances (even up to 100km). Under the pressure from both the business and the society to provide ubiquitous connectivity as soon as possible, new IoT deployments are conducted with haste and often by inexperienced people. Consequently, the aspect of communication security traditionally remains a secondary matter, even though the potential harm of a successful hacker attack can be enormous. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of LP-WAN vulnerabilities, as well as several Proofof-Concept (PoC) attacks toward LoRaWAN (packet forging), Sigfox (replay with DoS) and NB-IoT (attack using malicious UE), that confirm the existence of the vulnerabilities in both the standards and off-the-shelf hardware and services.

A Survey on the Security of Low Power Wide Area Networks: Threats, Challenges, and Potential Solutions

“…The analysis of LPWAN data integrity have been a major topic in the literature as major LPWAN standards are known to be highly vulnerable to integrity attacks. In an analysis of LPWAN integrity vulnerabilities, the authors in [ 15 , 69 ] cautioned that Sigfox is highly vulnerable to replay attacks and they strongly advised against its deployment for critical applications. However, the authors in [ 69 ] advised that better replay protection must be integrated at a higher layer by end users, thus minimizing the already small payload size.…”

“…In an analysis of LPWAN integrity vulnerabilities, the authors in [ 15 , 69 ] cautioned that Sigfox is highly vulnerable to replay attacks and they strongly advised against its deployment for critical applications. However, the authors in [ 69 ] advised that better replay protection must be integrated at a higher layer by end users, thus minimizing the already small payload size. Similarly, the authors in [ 17 ] explained that Weightless-P network are also prone to replay and wormhole attacks.…”

“…Just like any other cyber domain, jamming is a major challenge for LPWAN. The proximity of intruders to end node devices have constituted to the huge probability of jamming attacks in LPWAN [ 69 ]. Thus, effective and innovative techniques such as IDSs should be a core interest of future research efforts in order to mitigate jamming in LPWAN.…”

An Integrated IoT Architecture for Smart Metering Using Next Generation Sensor for Water Management Based on LoRaWAN Technology: A Pilot Study

“…Navarro-Ortiz et al [53] focuses on the safety of the LoRaWAN technology and describes the possibility of its improvement on the HW level. The analysis of LoraWAN, Sigfox, and NB-IoT vulnerability is conducted in [54]. This work [55] describes the concept of Small Cell Cloud (SCC) composed of multiple Cloud-enabled Small Cells (CeSCs), which provide radio connection for mobile User Equipment (UE), such as smart-phones or wearables.…”

treNch: Ultra-Low Power Wireless Communication Protocol for IoT and Energy Harvesting

“…Nevertheless, the literature focuses on improving the current protocols, proposing new features or solving vulnerabilities. For instance, Zhang et al [ 31 ] and Laurentiu et al [ 32 ] reported security flaws in BLE and LoRaWAN, Sigfox and NB-IoT, respectively. Mao et al [ 33 ] proposed a security configuration strategy for IEEE 802.15.4 that adapts its level depending on the network security threats, service requirements and harvested energy.…”