Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 2043: Battery Draining Attack and Defense against Power Saving Wireless LAN Devices (Sensors)

Wi-Fi technology connects sensor-based things that operate with small batteries, and allows them to access the Internet from anywhere at any time and perform networking. It has become a critical element in many areas of daily life and industry, including smart homes, smart factories, smart grids, and smart cities. The Wi-Fi-based Internet of things is gradually expanding its range of uses from new industries to areas that are intimately connected to people’s lives, safety, and property. Wi-Fi technology has undergone a 20-year standardization process and continues to evolve to improve transmission speeds and service quality. Simultaneously, it has also been strengthening power-saving technology and security technology to improve energy efficiency and security while maintaining backward compatibility with past standards. This study analyzed the security vulnerabilities of the Wi-Fi power-saving mechanism used in smart devices and experimentally proved the feasibility of a battery draining attack (BDA) on commercial smartphones. The results of the experiment showed that when a battery draining attack was performed on power-saving Wi-Fi, 14 times the amount of energy was consumed compared with when a battery draining attack was not performed. This study analyzed the security vulnerabilities of the power-saving mechanism and discusses countermeasures.