How can energy harvesting wireless communications cope with security and privacy threats?

1 Authentication and key management

One of the fundamental security requirements for EHWC is to authenticate the identity and legitimacy of the communicating parties and to establish secure keys for encryption and decryption. However, traditional authentication and key management schemes may not be suitable for EHWC due to their high energy consumption, complexity, and overhead. Therefore, EHWC need to adopt lightweight and energy-efficient authentication and key management schemes that can leverage the characteristics of the energy harvesting process, such as randomness, diversity, and unpredictability. For example, some schemes use the harvested energy levels or the channel state information as sources of randomness to generate or exchange keys.

2 Data integrity and confidentiality

Another security requirement for EHWC is to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the transmitted and received data. However, EHWC may face various attacks that aim to tamper with or eavesdrop on the data, such as jamming, spoofing, replaying, or intercepting. Moreover, EHWC may have limited or intermittent connectivity due to their energy constraints, which makes it harder to detect and recover from data corruption or loss. Therefore, EHWC need to adopt robust and resilient data integrity and confidentiality schemes that can cope with the dynamic and uncertain nature of the energy harvesting and wireless channels. For example, some schemes use error correction codes, data compression, or data aggregation to reduce the data size and increase the data reliability.

3 Privacy preservation

A third security requirement for EHWC is to preserve the privacy of the communicating parties and their data. However, EHWC may face various privacy threats that aim to infer sensitive information from the energy harvesting or wireless signals, such as location, activity, identity, or content. For example, an adversary may track the movement or behavior of an EHWC device by observing its energy harvesting patterns or channel usage. Moreover, EHWC may have to share some information with other devices or networks to enable cooperation or coordination, which may expose them to privacy breaches. Therefore, EHWC need to adopt privacy preservation schemes that can protect the energy harvesting or wireless signals from unwanted observation or analysis. For example, some schemes use anonymization, obfuscation, or encryption to hide or distort the information.

4 Intrusion detection and response

A fourth security requirement for EHWC is to detect and respond to any intrusions or attacks that may compromise their functionality or performance. However, EHWC may face various challenges in implementing effective intrusion detection and response mechanisms due to their limited resources, dynamic environments, and potential adversaries. For example, EHWC may not have enough energy or memory to store or process the intrusion detection data or algorithms. Moreover, EHWC may not have reliable or timely communication with other devices or networks to report or receive alerts or instructions. Therefore, EHWC need to adopt adaptive and collaborative intrusion detection and response schemes that can optimize their energy consumption and communication efficiency. For example, some schemes use machine learning, game theory, or cooperative strategies to learn from the environment, adapt to the changes, or coordinate with the peers.

5 Security evaluation and testing

A fifth security requirement for EHWC is to evaluate and test their security performance and resilience under various scenarios and conditions. However, EHWC may face various difficulties in conducting realistic and comprehensive security evaluation and testing due to their complexity, diversity, and uncertainty. For example, EHWC may have different energy harvesting models, wireless protocols, or application requirements that may affect their security behavior or outcomes. Moreover, EHWC may have unpredictable or stochastic energy harvesting or wireless channel conditions that may vary over time or space. Therefore, EHWC need to adopt rigorous and flexible security evaluation and testing methods that can capture and analyze the security properties and metrics of the EHWC systems. For example, some methods use simulation, emulation, or experimentation to model or measure the security performance and resilience of the EHWC systems.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?