Jam It All!

From Wi-Fi to Bluetooth, Zigbee, and 5G, wireless communication technologies are making life so much easier. Gone are the days when every single device needed a wire to transmit and receive messages. This not only makes installation of new devices a snap, but it also makes our electronic gadgets highly portable for productivity and entertainment on the go.

For these reasons, and also because wireless communication is now very reliable and capable of fast data transfers, almost everything that needs to communicate does so without wires. Security cameras, phones, smart thermostats, lighting, speakers, door locks — you name it… all wireless. There is no question that this offers us a lot of convenience, but how about security?

Since these transmissions are not confined to a wire, but are rather broadcast such that anyone in range can intercept or manipulate them, they are inherently less secure. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and Ruhr University Bochum recently teamed up to demonstrate a vulnerability that we need to be more aware of if we are to mitigate these risks.

Typically, when we consider such issues, stealing credentials or data is what comes to mind. But what about good old-fashioned denial of service (DoS) attacks? They are far easier to carry out, and in a world that is so dependent on wireless communications, the results could be devastating. And as the team showed, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) will be a force to be reckoned with in future DoS attacks.

When attackers cast a wide net, jamming every wireless device within range, many alarms will be triggered so that the attack can be dealt with. But if just a single target device could be jammed, it would likely bypass alarm systems, allowing the attackers to carry out their plan undetected. Traditional jamming methods just blast the signal out, impacting everything in range. But by using a RIS, one, or a few, devices can be specifically targeted while everything else goes on its merry way.

This level of precision is made possible by the unique properties of RIS technology. Essentially, a RIS is a software-controlled surface that can manipulate radio waves. Imagine a disco ball that can reflect radio waves, but instead of being random, each mirror facet can be controlled to direct the waves exactly where desired. This allows an attacker to focus their jamming signal on a specific device, while leaving others in the vicinity unaffected.

The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of RIS-based jamming attacks in a series of experiments. They showed that it is possible to target a single device, even when it is in close proximity to other devices. In one experiment, they successfully jammed a Wi-Fi device while a second device, located just 5mm away, remained unaffected and continued to transmit data at a rate of 25 Mbit/s.

As our reliance on wireless communication continues to grow, so too does our vulnerability to DoS attacks. The development of RIS technology could potentially make it easier for attackers to carry out targeted jamming attacks, which could have serious consequences in fields such as healthcare, finance, and transportation.

However, the researchers emphasize that their work is not intended to create a new vulnerability, but rather to raise awareness of a potential threat. By understanding the capabilities and limitations of RIS technology, we can begin to develop countermeasures to prevent such attacks.