Robustness, Security and Privacy in Location-Based Services for Future IoT: A Survey

By Samih Eisa, Miguel Pardal / 12-03-2022 / In categories Blog

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Robustness, Security and Privacy in Location-Based Services for Future IoT: A Survey

Survey

Chen, Liang et al. “Robustness, Security and Privacy in Location-Based Services for Future IoT: A Survey.” IEEE Access 5 (2017): 8956-8977.

Security and privacy aspects of location-based services in Internet of Things (IoT) systems have not been sufficiently addressed. This survey reviewed several solutions for improving the robustness, security, and privacy of location-based services in IoT. The survey provides in-depth evaluation of threats and solutions of GNSS-based and non-GNSS systems as well as describes cryptographic methods for security and privacy of positioning services in IoT. Moreover, technical and legal regulations of security and privacy aspects in positioning solutions have been reviewed to give recommendations and guidelines for the future solutions. The survey reviewed the solutions based on the following main points:

  1. GNSS-based: This includes solutions to improve robustness and security of GNSS-based positioning include robustness against GNSS system level failure, robustness against effects of Earth’s atmosphere and space weather, security against RF (Radio Frequency) interference, and robustness against signal obstructions.

  2. Non-GNSS: This includes security and privacy related threats in Non-GNSS positioning include database corruption (reference locations or wrong Received Signal Strength - RSS), environment change, RF interference, malicious nodes, privacy threat that makes the device position unknown, and trusted network issues.

  3. Cryptographic techniques: standard cryptographic solutions for secure communications were discussed first, followed by solutions based on distance-bounding protocols and secure localization in WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) applications. Constraints for cryptographic implementations also have been discussed together with privacy-preserving aspects in Location-based services.

  4. Legal regulations and recommendations: Legal and policy issues in location-based services include spectrum requirements and standardization, privacy and personal data protection and vulnerabilities in mobile devices localization.

In summary, the survey reviewed and discussed a wide range of solutions for security and privacy aspects in IoT location-based systems. The solutions have been classified according to their related features under four main categories.