Physical layer security for IoT devices configuration and key management - a Proof of Concept

Abstract

The IoT paradigm is continuously growing, but the security is not taken into account as it should. The standards allows the use of cryptographic suites at various layer (network, IP, application, etc.) to protect the user privacy and the network operations. However, the encryption key management schemes are often neglected. We propose a method that leverages the physical layer security to establish a secure channel which allows a secure exchange of cryptographic keys, enhancing the security while maintaining a very low management overhead, i.e., with minimal interference on the normal user workflow. The proposed method is briefly analyzed and the implementation efforts are detailed and discussed.