PLC Systems Under the Presence of a Malicious Wireless Communication Device: Physical Layer Security Analyses

Abstract

This paper investigates the physical layer security (PLS) of a broadband in-home power line communication (PLC) system when a malicious wireless device tries to eavesdrop private messages exchanged between two PLC devices. Such a security issue arises when electric power circuits, which are used for data communication, are constituted by unshielded power cables. In this regard, the hybrid wiretap channel model for formulating achievable secrecy rate and secrecy outage probability is considered. Additionally, a data set of channel estimates and measured additive noises obtained from a measurement campaign carried out in several in-home facilities is used for providing practical results, which can offer direction for dealing with the security aspects of broadband in-home PLC systems in the physical layer perspective. The attained results show high values of secrecy outage probability for all chosen values of target secrecy rate and total power transmission (practical and theoretical) when the PLC devices are far from each other and the eavesdropper is close to the PLC transmitter (i.e., the distance is shorter than 2 meters). Overall, the numerical results show that the vulnerability of broadband in-home PLC systems, in terms of PLS, is relevant when practical values of total transmission power apply. Therefore, a rethinking of the use of unshielded power cables or new designs of the broadband in-home PLC system deserves special attention for ensuring security at the physical layer.Index Terms-Physical layer security, power line communications, wireless communications, hybrid wiretap channel model, secrecy outage probability.

A SoC Implementation of a PQC Scheme for Smart Meter

“…In fact, it is well-established that data networks must present protections against threats to system-level security (e.g., credential compromise, denial of service attacks), threats to services (e.g., SMs cloning, location fraud), and threats to privacy (e.g., interception/eavesdroppers, misuse of private data). In this context, cryptography algorithms have emerged as one of the most powerful methods to protect SM data against eavesdroppers [9], [10] when they are transmitted through data networks.…”

The Effective Secrecy Throughput of a Broadband Power Line Communication System Under the Presence of Colluding Wireless Eavesdroppers

“…Moreover, the broadcasting nature of electric power systems compromises the security of private information exchanged between PLC devices since their private signals can be eavesdropped by a malicious PLC device. Also, the use of electromagnetically unshielded power lines, which are employed in most of electric power circuits, means that a part of PLC signals leaks into the air [8], [9]. As a result, the electromagnetic field produced by PLC signals traveling over unshielded power lines can be sensed by a nearby wireless communication (WLC) device, and, as a consequence, a eavesdropper device can decode the information-carry signals that are transmitted through power lines by PLC systems.…”

“…Regarding a more realistic scenario, in which the transmitter does not know the eavesdropper's CSI, a few studies have investigated the PLS in PLC systems [9], [35]- [38]. While Salem et al [35] proposed an artificial noise scheme to improve the ergodic achievable secrecy rate in cooperative relaying PLC systems when theoretical and flat PLC channels are considered, the ergodic achievable secrecy rate and SOP for PLC and hybrid PLC/WLC single relay channels were evaluated in [36].…”

“…Aiming to investigate the threat of a nearby malicious WLC device, which is capable of eavesdropping private mes-sages of an in-home and broadband 1 PLC system, the work in [9] evaluated the ergodic achievable secrecy rate and SOP for the hybrid wiretap channel model taking into account a real data set collected from the measurement campaign reported in [5], [8]. This data set is composed of PLC and hybrid PLC-WLC channels estimates, which represent the links between the PLC transmitter and PLC receiver and between the PLC transmitter and WLC eavesdropper, respectively.…”

The wireless signal propagation in hybrid PLC-wireless channels: A first analysis

“…Only few results on the usefulness of HP-W systems have been reported in the literature, as it can still be considered an incipient technology for assisting emerging applications, such as IoT, smart grid and smart city. Regarding in-home facilities, [2] addressed statistic analysis of parameters applied to analyze the suitability of HP-W media for data communication purposes; [3] discussed a statistical model of the channel frequency response (CFR) magnitude in in-home facilities; [4] dealt with the physical layer security of PLC system threatened by a malicious wireless device, and [5] focused on energy harvesting aspects related to these channels.…”