Security Concepts Based on IEEE 802.1X for G.hn Broadband PLC Access Networks

Abstract

Broadband Power Line Communications (BPL) has the potential to play a significant role in the German smart grid, due to its high data rate. Although BPL may offer significant competitive benefits, the possible negative impact that BPL may have on security may be a more important factor in BPL deployment. In this paper, security issues regarding the current implementations of ITU-T G.hn BPL for access networks are discussed. It has been shown that an authentication using AES-128 on the physical layer cannot grant the authenticity. Security requirements to improve the actual situation are introduced. Furthermore, three security concepts in different complexities to adapt the key features of IEEE 802.1X into G.hn are presented. The first concept is based on the encryption of the content of the authentication messages during the handshake. The second concept extends the previous one with additional response messages. The last concept is based on the insertion of EAP-TLS authentication to validate the possession of the private keys.