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Security and privacy on smartphones: a sensing approach
Li, Ming
Li, Ming
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2020
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Abstract
The technological advancements have made smartphones an indispensable component of our daily lives. Security and privacy (S&P) on smartphones has thus become an important research topic. Since there are no universally applicable solutions to solve S&P issues on smartphones, we conduct our research in a case study manner, with a focus on smartphone sensors. We propose Spy-Phone to show how smartphones get eavesdropped by motion sensors, Ultra-Unlock to authenticate users with gestures in the air, and MoVo to protect voice authentication systems against spoofing attacks. In detail, the Spy-Phone system turns smartphones into spy bugs by performing Man-in- the-Phone attack. Such an attack is based on the fact that motion sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) can measure audio signals, though at a much lower sampling rate. It is a big threat to smartphone users since the phone’s operating system grants applications permissions to motion sensors automatically. Ultra-Unlock uses the microphones and speakers in smartphones to send ultrasound signals and catch users’ finger movements, then utilizes these user-specific movements to unlock the phone. It is a great alternative to the password/fingerprint authentication when users’ fingers are dirty or wet and to the face authentication when users wear masks or goggles. MoVo is a spoof-proof voice authentication system that not only authenticates users by their voices but also differentiates live people and electronic devices. In other words, attackers are unable to unlock the phone by replay attack (attackers record the victim’s voice in person or online, then replay the recording and access the victim’s devices illegally). The idea is to utilize the self demodulation effect and acoustic attenuation effect that occurred when sound signals transmit through human bodies. Motion sensors are used to catch such signals.
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