Hidden Terminal based Attack, Diagnosis and Detection Yao Zhao, Leo Zhao, Yan Chen Lab for Internet & Security Tech, Northwestern Univ.

Outline Motivation Background on Hidden Terminal Problem Hidden Terminal based DoS attacks in WLAN Current Work on Diagnosis and Detection

Motivation Hidden terminal problem is usually studied in wireless ad hoc networks Hidden terminal problem for WLAN –HT exists in large WLAN Limited channels: only 3 out of 11 channels are orthogonal to each other To cover a large hotspot, hidden terminal problems may occur because of the deployment of APs –Easy to launch DoS attack to WLAN

Outline Motivation Background on Hidden Terminal Problem Hidden Terminal based DoS attacks in WLAN Current Work on Diagnosis and Detection

What’s Hidden Terminal Problem SDH S sends a packet to D H doesn’t know D is receiving packet and broadcast a packet to another node during S’s sending Two packets are collided at D

Mitigation of HT Problem RTS-CTS-DATA-ACK procedure NAV is included in RTS and CTS SDH RTSCTS DATA ACK

Problem of RTS-CTS WLAN doesn’t enable RTS-CTS by default –RTS and CTS are overhead –In single AP scenario, no HT at all since every clients only communicate with the AP RTS-CTS cannot totally solve HT problem –A packet may not be correctly received if there’s interference whose strength is much weaker than the packet (1/10)

HT Problem Still Exists CTS can’t be received by H H can send P to interfere with DATA SDH RTSCTS DATA P Interference

Outline Motivation Background on Hidden Terminal Problem Hidden Terminal based DoS attacks in WLAN Current Work on Diagnosis and Detection

Hard to deploy WLAN to avoid HT No global deployment in some environments HT Problem in WLAN A B

Example of HT in WLAN

HT based DoS Use two laptops in ad hoc mode Simple: no extra hardware or change of MAC needed Powerful Stealthy

Powerful Attack: Cover Range (1) P~d α, α=4 (usually 2<α<4) Packet can’t be received correctly if interfering packets’ power > 1/10 power of the packet

Powerful Attack: Cover Range (2) AP as sender Receivers in shaded area suffer HT problem

Conclusion on HT Based Attack Powerful –About ½ of the coverage of an AP is affected by HT Stealthy –The victim cannot receive packets from HT –The packets from HT are legal packets –Several factors have the same symptoms: low signals but normal noises Long distance between AP and clients Hidden terminal Phone/Microwave/Bluetooth interference

Current Work on Diagnosis Preliminary ideas: –Pre-define the coverage area –Strategic walk from different directions

Q&A Thanks!

Future Works Identify the reason of low throughput –Long distance between AP and clients –HT problem –Phone/Microwave interference Locate the HT –The victim cannot receive packets from HT –Triangulation approach may not work in indoor environment