Securing Everyday Digital Life - An Approach towards Detection, Precise Localization, and Effective Isolation of Concealed IoT Devices in Unfamiliar Environments

#consumer_technology #IoT #Internet_of_Things #germany #german_chapter #ForDaySec #CTSoc #CTSoC_germany

The Bavarian research network ForDaySec is an interdisciplinary research association for improving IT security in everyday digital life. The focus is on the development of technologies and solutions suitable for everyday use, with which the opportunities of digitization can be safely exploited in various areas of life and work. In this talk we report on recent results in the use of IoT devices in security applications.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have been reportedly used to spy on guests in hotels or privately rented accommodations in recent years. Such attacks can be mitigated by users, especially those at higher security risk, by detecting such devices, localizing them, and subsequently disabling their intrusive functionality. Our work introduces a system that allows a user without specific technical knowledge not only to detect and physically locate hidden IoT devices but further also to isolate devices that are perceived as threats from the network without physical intervention. For the former, the system provides a visual aid using augmented reality, for the latter we integrate de-authentication attacks on the Wi-Fi network based on the network information collected during device localization. The prototype of the system is implemented as an iOS application, connected to a Raspberry Pi, and evaluated on a set of 18 different test devices. Compared to previous research our system shows comparable or even better results. It discloses devices within 3s with a detection rate of at least 90%, localizes them in 3D space visualized using augmented reality with an approximate accuracy of 0.4m, and isolates 100% of the devices for at least 180s (and potentially longer).

Webinar with a Q'n'A session