ENABLING SECURE BEACON TELEMETRY BROADCASTS

• US 20200137563A1
• Filed: 12/18/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bhattacharyya, Abhishek, Cam-Winget, Nancy, Girimaji, Jagdish, Dasgupta, Rahul, Ammepalli, Damodharam
• Granted Patent: US 11,178,540 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/009 specially adapted for networks, e.g. wireless sensor networks, ad-hoc networks, RFID networks or cloud networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/043 using a trusted network node as an anchor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In accordance with one aspect, presented herein is a method to encrypt beacon device telemetry broadcast packets while respecting the low power and low processing requirements inherent to wireless beacon devices and various other challenges which such an encryption scheme brings. In accordance with another aspect, a methodology is provided through which the network can identify if an unauthorized connection is being established with a beacon device and thereby prevent potential beacon device tampering.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a server that manages at least one wireless beacon device configured to encrypt and broadcast telemetry messages that include data from one or more sensors, obtaining information about battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device; and

controlling distribution of encryption keys to the at least one wireless beacon device based on the battery power state of the beacon device so as to minimize battery power consumption of the at least one wireless beacon device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling includes controlling distribution of at least one of a number of keys or a periodicity at which the keys are distributed to the at least one wireless beacon device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein controlling includes distributing a larger set of keys on a less frequent basis as the battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device becomes depleted so as to reduce battery power consumption by the at least one wireless beacon device for key management.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one wireless access point that is in range of the at least one wireless beacon device and which is authorized to validate broadcasted messages from the at least one beacon device;

wherein controlling includes controlling distribution of the encryption keys to the at least one wireless beacon device and distribution of hash keys to the at least one wireless access point to enable encryption of broadcast telemetry messages by the at least one wireless beacon device but only integrity validation using the hash keys by the at least one wireless access point of the broadcast telemetry messages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein controlling further includes controlling distribution of the hash keys to one or more intermediate hop devices which are authorized to validate broadcast telemetry messages of the at least one wireless beacon device;

and revoking the hash keys for one or more intermediate hop devices when it is determined that the one or more intermediate hop devices are not authorized to validate broadcast telemetry messages of the at least one wireless beacon device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining includes monitoring a broadcast telemetry message that includes a field that indicates a battery power level of the at least one wireless beacon device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining includes the server querying the at least one wireless beacon device via a secure connection to report its battery power state.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, from a plurality of wireless access points that detect connection requests to the at least one wireless beacon device, reports including a media access control address for a source and a destination of the detected connection requests;

determining whether the media access control address associated with a detected connection request is associated with a wireless access point not authorized to connect to the at least one beacon device; and

generating a rogue device detection alert based on a detected connection request determined not to be associated with a wireless access point authorized to connect to the at least one wireless beacon device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

obtaining from a wireless access point that is in communication with the at least one wireless beacon device, an indication that a panic telemetry signal has been transmitted by the at least one wireless beacon device, the panic telemetry signal indicating that a key agreement protocol exchange associated with a connection request to the at least one wireless beacon device has failed a predetermined number of times, wherein the panic telemetry signal is broadcasted by the at least one wireless beacon device in clear text;

wherein generating the rogue device detection alert is based further on occurrence of the panic telemetry signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the telemetry messages include an encrypted portion for payload data and an unencrypted portion for routing priority information.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to enable network communications; and

a processor coupled to the communication interface, wherein the processor is configured to;

obtain information about battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device; and

control distribution of encryption keys to the at least one wireless beacon device based on the battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device so as to minimize battery power consumption of the at least one wireless beacon device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to control distribution of at least one of a number of keys or a periodicity at which the keys are distributed to the at least one wireless beacon device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to control by distributing a larger number of keys on a less frequent basis as the battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device becomes depleted so as to reduce battery power consumption by the at least one wireless beacon device for key management.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine at least one wireless access point that is in range of the at least one wireless beacon device and which is authorized to validate broadcasted messages from the at least one beacon device; and

control distribution of the encryption keys to the at least one wireless beacon device and distribution of hash keys to the at least one wireless access point to enable encryption of broadcast telemetry messages by the at least one wireless beacon device but only integrity validation using the hash keys by the at least one wireless access point of the broadcast telemetry messages.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to control distribution of the hash keys to one or more intermediate hop devices which are authorized to validate broadcast telemetry messages of the at least one wireless beacon device.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain, from a plurality of wireless access points that detect connection requests to the at least one wireless beacon device, reports including a media access control address for a source and a destination of the detected connection requests;

determine whether the media access control address associated with a detected connection request is associated with a wireless access point not authorized to connect to the at least one beacon device; and

generate a rogue device detection alert based on a detected connection request determined not to be associated with a wireless access point authorized to connect to the at least one wireless beacon device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to:

obtain from a wireless access point that is in communication with the at least one wireless beacon device, an indication that a panic telemetry signal has been transmitted by the at least one wireless beacon device, the panic telemetry signal indicating that a key agreement protocol exchange associated with a connection request to the at least one wireless beacon device has failed a predetermined number of times, wherein the panic telemetry signal is broadcasted by the at least one wireless beacon device in clear text; and

generate the rogue device detection alert is based further on occurrence of the panic telemetry signal.

18. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions by a processor running on a server that manages at least one wireless beacon device configured to encrypt and broadcast telemetry messages that include data from one or more sensors, the server is operable to perform operations including:

obtaining information about battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device; and

controlling distribution of encryption keys to the at least one wireless beacon device based on the battery power state of the beacon device so as to minimize battery power consumption of the at least one wireless beacon device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the instructions operable for controlling include instructions for controlling distribution of at least one of a number of keys or a periodicity at which the keys are distributed to the at least one wireless beacon device.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 19, wherein the instructions operable for controlling include instructions for distributing a larger number of keys on a less frequent basis as the battery power state of the at least one wireless beacon device becomes depleted so as to reduce battery power consumption by the at least one wireless beacon device for key management.