Practical Location Validation in Participatory Sensing Through Mobile WiFi Hotspots

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable, energy-efficient location validation system for participatory sensing that uses mobile WiFi hotspots and novel verification techniques to prevent location-spoofing in large outdoor environments.

Contribution

The paper presents LVS, a new location validation system utilizing WiFi hotspots and Chains of Sight to effectively prevent spoofing and collusion in participatory sensing.

Findings

LVS is energy-efficient and practical for real-world scenarios.

The system effectively detects and prevents location-spoofing attacks.

Experimental results validate LVS's accuracy and security properties.

Abstract

The reliability of information in participatory sensing (PS) systems largely depends on the accuracy of the location of the participating users. However, existing PS applications are not able to efficiently validate the position of users in large-scale outdoor environments. In this paper, we present an efficient and scalable Location Validation System (LVS) to secure PS systems from location-spoofing attacks. In particular, the user location is verified with the help of mobile WiFi hot spots (MHSs), which are users activating the WiFi hotspot capability of their smartphones and accepting connections from nearby users, thereby validating their position inside the sensing area. The system also comprises a novel verification technique called Chains of Sight, which tackles collusion-based attacks effectively. LVS also includes a reputation-based algorithm that rules out sensing reports of location-spoofing users. The feasibility and efficiency of the WiFi-based approach of LVS is demonstrated by a set of indoor and outdoor experiments conducted using off-the-shelf smartphones, while the energy-efficiency of LVS is demonstrated by experiments using the Power Monitor energy tool. Finally, the security properties of LVS are analyzed by simulation experiments. Results indicate that the proposed LVS system is energy-efficient, applicable to most of the practical PS scenarios, and efficiently secures existing PS systems from location-spoofing attacks.