CROSSING Research Seminar

Organizer: Jacqueline Brendel, CROSSING

Abstract

Nowadays, the number of mobile devices and their deployment in everyday life is extensively increasing. To communicate, the devices employ various wireless networks, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Since sensitive information (e.g. heart’s rate as health data) can be communicated via these networks, it is important to protect such information, e.g. by encrypting it. To start the encryption, devices need to agree on the encryption key they will be working with. For the agreement process, various key exchange (KE) protocols can be used. Whereas some attacks and vulnerabilities of devices depend on manufacturers, it is essential to prove the security on the level of a standard, which is used as a building block when designing devices.

In this talk, the cryptographic analysis of the KE protocols used in Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy will be presented. We aim to understand what guarantees these protocols are attempting to provide and investigate whether they succeed in it. In addition, the countermeasures and problems in addressing the failed guarantees will be shown.

Speaker Bio

Olga Sanina is a PhD student in the Cryptoplexity team at the Technical University of Darmstadt and is a part of SFB 1119 ‘Crossing’ (Project Area S4) since 2022. Her research interests are privacy and security of real-world protocols for mobile devices that involve human interaction. Olga holds a BSc in information security and MSc in computer security from Novosibirsk State Technical University (Novosibirsk, Russia). She is a mentor in various programmes that aim to support minority groups in academia.