Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices

With the proliferation of smart devices capable of communicating over a network using different protocols, each year more and more successful attacks are recorded against these, underlining the necessity of developing and implementing mechanisms to protect against such attacks. This paper will revie...

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Main Authors: Dan Dinculeană, Xiaochun Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-02-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/5/848
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author Dan Dinculeană
Xiaochun Cheng
author_facet Dan Dinculeană
Xiaochun Cheng
author_sort Dan Dinculeană
collection DOAJ
description With the proliferation of smart devices capable of communicating over a network using different protocols, each year more and more successful attacks are recorded against these, underlining the necessity of developing and implementing mechanisms to protect against such attacks. This paper will review some existing solutions used to secure a communication channel, such as Transport Layer Security or symmetric encryption, as well as provide a novel approach to achieving confidentiality and integrity of messages. The method, called Value-to-Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (Value-to-HMAC) mapping, uses signatures to send messages, instead of encryption, by implementing a Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code generation algorithm. Although robust solutions exist that can be used to secure the communication between devices, this paper considers that not every Internet of Things (IoT) device or network design is able to afford the overhead and drop in performance, or even support such protocols. Therefore, the Value-to-HMAC method was designed to maximize performance while ensuring the messages are only readable by the intended node. The experimental procedure demonstrates how the method will achieve better performance than a symmetric-key encryption algorithm, while ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of information through the use of one mechanism.
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spelling doaj.art-29d16c4811e44421b16da30c0d1dbe4a2022-12-21T22:37:09ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172019-02-019584810.3390/app9050848app9050848Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT DevicesDan Dinculeană0Xiaochun Cheng1Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, NW4 4BT, UKFaculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, NW4 4BT, UKWith the proliferation of smart devices capable of communicating over a network using different protocols, each year more and more successful attacks are recorded against these, underlining the necessity of developing and implementing mechanisms to protect against such attacks. This paper will review some existing solutions used to secure a communication channel, such as Transport Layer Security or symmetric encryption, as well as provide a novel approach to achieving confidentiality and integrity of messages. The method, called Value-to-Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (Value-to-HMAC) mapping, uses signatures to send messages, instead of encryption, by implementing a Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code generation algorithm. Although robust solutions exist that can be used to secure the communication between devices, this paper considers that not every Internet of Things (IoT) device or network design is able to afford the overhead and drop in performance, or even support such protocols. Therefore, the Value-to-HMAC method was designed to maximize performance while ensuring the messages are only readable by the intended node. The experimental procedure demonstrates how the method will achieve better performance than a symmetric-key encryption algorithm, while ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of information through the use of one mechanism.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/5/848Internet of Things (IoT)Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT)Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC)confidentialityintegrity
spellingShingle Dan Dinculeană
Xiaochun Cheng
Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
Applied Sciences
Internet of Things (IoT)
Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT)
Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC)
confidentiality
integrity
title Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
title_full Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
title_fullStr Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
title_full_unstemmed Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
title_short Vulnerabilities and Limitations of MQTT Protocol Used between IoT Devices
title_sort vulnerabilities and limitations of mqtt protocol used between iot devices
topic Internet of Things (IoT)
Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT)
Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC)
confidentiality
integrity
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/5/848
work_keys_str_mv AT dandinculeana vulnerabilitiesandlimitationsofmqttprotocolusedbetweeniotdevices
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