CLIMEX: A Wireless Physical Layer Security Protocol Based on Clocked Impulse Exchanges

TL;DR

CLIMEX is a physical layer security protocol that leverages clock and distance parameters for secure communication, providing 38 bits of secrecy and robustness against active attacks.

Contribution

It introduces a novel physical parameter-based security protocol with theoretical modeling and estimators, enhancing wireless security against active adversaries.

Findings

38 bits of secrecy achievable per protocol run

Secure physical parameters are non-observable to adversaries

Robust against timing attacks and impersonation

Abstract

A novel method and protocol establishing common secrecy based on physical parameters between two users is proposed. The four physical parameters of users are their clock frequencies, their relative clock phases and the distance between them. The protocol proposed between two users is backed by theoretical model for the measurements. Further, estimators are proposed to estimate secret physical parameters. Physically exchanged parameters are shown to be secure by virtue of their non-observability to adversaries. Under a simplified analysis based on a testbed settings, it is shown that 38 bits of common secrecy can be derived for one run of the proposed protocol among users. The method proposed is also robust against various kinds of active timing attacks and active impersonating adversaries.