IoT Devices Proximity Authentication In Ad Hoc Network Environment

Internet of Things (IoT) is a distributed communication technology system that offers the possibility for physical devices (e.g., vehicles, home appliances sensors, actuators, etc.), known as Things, to connect and exchange data, more importantly, without human interaction. Since IoT plays a significant role in our daily lives, we must secure the IoT environment to work effectively. Among the various security requirements, authentication to the IoT devices is essential as it is the first step in preventing any negative impact of possible attackers. Using the current IEEE 802.11 infrastructure, this paper implements an IoT devices authentication scheme based on something that is in the IoT device’s environment (i.e., ambient access points). Data from the broadcast messages (i.e., beacon frame characteristics) are utilized to implement the authentication factor that confirms proximity between two devices in an ad hoc IoT network.