Robustness of radiometric fingerprinting in the presence of an impersonator

Abstract

In radiometric fingerprinting, a transmitter is identified from its unique electromagnetic emission. A unique radiometric fingerprint can be used to establish the identity of a specific wireless device in order to prevent masquerading/impersonation attacks. Recent research in radiometric fingerprinting have introduced promising new features and techniques to demonstrate its feasibility for security and privacy applications in wireless devices. However less attention is given to the robustness of radiometric fingerprint against impersonation attacks. In our previous work, we have evaluated the impersonation attack on radiometric fingerprinting using low-cost transceivers. In our previous work, the impersonator was unaware of its own transceiver impairments, which leads to lower success rate. In this research work we are considering a sophisticated impersonator aware of its transceiver response and producing an impairment free legitimate radio signal of the target device. Our analysis shows that successful impersonation is largely dependent on the quality of the legitimate receiver.