Implications of radio fingerprinting on the security of sensor networks

Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of fingerprinting the radio of wireless sensor nodes (Chipcon 1000 radio, 433MHz). We show that, with this type of devices, a receiver can create device radio fingerprints and subsequently identify origins of messages exchanged between the devices, even if message contents and device identifiers are hidden. We further analyze the implications of device fingerprinting on the security of sensor networking protocols, specifically, we propose two new mechanisms for the detection of wormholes in sensor networks.