Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures

We demonstrate that the network flux over the sensor network provides fingerprint information about the mobile users within the field. Such information is exoteric in the physical space and easy to access through passive sniffing. We present a theoretical model to abstract the network flux according...

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Main Authors: Li, Zhenjiang., Jiang, Jonathan Xiaoye., Guibas, Leonidas J.
Other Authors: School of Computer Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102510
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16526
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author Li, Zhenjiang.
Jiang, Jonathan Xiaoye.
Guibas, Leonidas J.
author2 School of Computer Engineering
author_facet School of Computer Engineering
Li, Zhenjiang.
Jiang, Jonathan Xiaoye.
Guibas, Leonidas J.
author_sort Li, Zhenjiang.
collection NTU
description We demonstrate that the network flux over the sensor network provides fingerprint information about the mobile users within the field. Such information is exoteric in the physical space and easy to access through passive sniffing. We present a theoretical model to abstract the network flux according to the statuses of mobile users. We fit the theoretical model with the network flux measurements through Nonlinear Least Squares (NLS) and develop an algorithm that iteratively approaches the NLS solution by Sequential Monte Carlo Estimation. With sparse measurements of the flux information at individual sensor nodes, we show that it is easy to identify the mobile users within the network and instantly track their movements without breaking into the details of the communicational packets. Our study indicates that most of existing systems are vulnerable to such attack against the privacy of mobile users. We further propose a set of countermeasures that redistribute and reshape the network traffic to preserve the location privacy of mobile users. With a trace driven simulation, we demonstrate the substantial threats of the attacks and the effectiveness of the proposed countermeasures.
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spelling ntu-10356/1025102020-05-28T07:17:44Z Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures Li, Zhenjiang. Jiang, Jonathan Xiaoye. Guibas, Leonidas J. School of Computer Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer systems organization::Special-purpose and application-based systems We demonstrate that the network flux over the sensor network provides fingerprint information about the mobile users within the field. Such information is exoteric in the physical space and easy to access through passive sniffing. We present a theoretical model to abstract the network flux according to the statuses of mobile users. We fit the theoretical model with the network flux measurements through Nonlinear Least Squares (NLS) and develop an algorithm that iteratively approaches the NLS solution by Sequential Monte Carlo Estimation. With sparse measurements of the flux information at individual sensor nodes, we show that it is easy to identify the mobile users within the network and instantly track their movements without breaking into the details of the communicational packets. Our study indicates that most of existing systems are vulnerable to such attack against the privacy of mobile users. We further propose a set of countermeasures that redistribute and reshape the network traffic to preserve the location privacy of mobile users. With a trace driven simulation, we demonstrate the substantial threats of the attacks and the effectiveness of the proposed countermeasures. 2013-10-16T05:15:29Z 2019-12-06T20:56:08Z 2013-10-16T05:15:29Z 2019-12-06T20:56:08Z 2012 2012 Journal Article Li, Z. J., Jiang, J. X. Y., & Guibas, L. J. (2012). Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures. IEEE transactions on parallel and distributed systems, 23(4), 676-683. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102510 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16526 10.1109/TPDS.2011.213 en IEEE transactions on parallel and distributed systems
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer systems organization::Special-purpose and application-based systems
Li, Zhenjiang.
Jiang, Jonathan Xiaoye.
Guibas, Leonidas J.
Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title_full Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title_fullStr Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title_full_unstemmed Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title_short Fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures
title_sort fingerprinting mobile user positions in sensor networks attacks and countermeasures
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer systems organization::Special-purpose and application-based systems
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102510
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16526
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