Device-Proximity Verification In The Presence Of Active Adversaries: Room-Impulse-Response-Based Approach

This talk will present recent results from our research on device-proximity (co-presence) verification based on context sensing technologies to enhance security of mobile authentication systems while retaining their usability. Prior work demonstrated the effectiveness of context-centric sensor based approaches to defend such systems against relay attacks. Through a systematic assessment of those context-based verification systems by considering an adversary model that includes active attackers, we showed that it is possible to manipulate context from sensor readings. This consequently defeats the authentication systems. In the direction of mitigating such active context attackers, this talk will introduce a solution based on acoustic room impulse response.