A Systematic Review of Security in the LoRaWAN Network Protocol

TL;DR

This paper systematically reviews security vulnerabilities in LoRaWAN protocol versions 1.0 and 1.1, highlighting key areas of weakness and suggesting measures for improvement in IoT networks.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive identification of nineteen vulnerabilities in LoRaWAN and analyzes current research focus areas and potential security enhancements.

Findings

Nineteen vulnerabilities identified in LoRaWAN protocol.

Current research mainly focuses on version 1.0, key management, and authentication.

Recommendations for security improvements are discussed.

Abstract

The age of the Internet of Things is adding an increasing number of new devices to the Internet and is expected to have fifty billion connected units by 2021. These form an extensive network that may have multiple points where there is a risk of attacks that can compromise the entire system. This paper has conducted a systematic review of security in LoRaWAN protocol specification versions 1.0 and 1.1 by locating its vulnerabilities and determining what measures can be taken for improvement and how they can be checked or tested. The review identifies nineteen areas of vulnerability in the LoRaWAN protocol and shows that the current studies focus on specification version 1.0, key management, and authentication procedures.