Security Issues in Tactical Software-Defined Radios

Abstract

In recent years, the development of radio communication technology solutions has experienced a huge paradigm change – the Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technology upspring, in which previously hardware-based features became software-defined and users may also introduce new application waveforms on-the-fly. Given its growing importance for SDR application vendors and developers in different project domains, one of first steps in engineering a secure SDR system is the identification of classes of attacks on a SDR, along with the associated threats and vulnerabilities. Therefore, the identification of classes of attacks is necessary for the definition of realistic and relevant security requirements. One contribution of this chapter is to identify classes of attacks that Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compliant Software-Defined Radios (SDR) can suffer. It is noteworthy that, with the advancement of technology, new vulnerabilities emerge every day, and with them, new forms of threats and attacks on systems. The authors intend, however, to highlight in this chapter the classes of attacks that are more relevant for tactical software-defined radios, taking into account expected losses for legitimate radio network users. They also discuss, in this chapter, mitigation strategies for several identified attacks and how attack mitigation strategies can affect a SCA-compliant operating environment. Finally, the authors present several case studies, along with simulation results, illustrating the identified attack classes.