Security mechanisms and Vulnerabilities in LPWAN

Abstract

The count of Internet of things (IoT) devices getting connected to internet are exponentially growing and is proposed to be 75 billion by 2025. IoT devices uses Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) that are precisely build to operate at a lower cost with greater power efficiency and long range connectivity than traditional wireless networks. LPWAN are inherently prone to security threats since they are also wireless communication network. Secure communication is essential for LPWAN and most LPWAN technologies uses simple cryptography methods. Despite of this security mechanisms, LPWAN is vulnerable to wide range of attacks. In this paper Network architecture and Security mechanisms of LPWAN technologies (LoRa, Sigfox, NB-IoT and DASH7) are discussed and are compered in terms of IoT factors. As a case study, vulnerabilities of LoRa is also being analyzed.