SBVLC: Secure barcode-based visible light communication for smartphones

As an alternative to NFC technology, 2D barcodes have been increasingly used for security-sensitive applications including payments and personal identification. However, the security of barcode-based communication in mobile applications has not been systematically studied. Due to the visual nature,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE INFOCOM 2014 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications pp. 2661 - 2669
Main Authors Bingsheng Zhang, Kui Ren, Guoliang Xing, Xinwen Fu, Cong Wang
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.04.2014
Subjects
Cameras
Decoding
Receivers
Security
Smart phones
Solid modeling
Three-dimensional displays
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Summary:As an alternative to NFC technology, 2D barcodes have been increasingly used for security-sensitive applications including payments and personal identification. However, the security of barcode-based communication in mobile applications has not been systematically studied. Due to the visual nature, 2D barcodes are subject to eavesdropping when they are displayed on the screen of a smartphone. On the other hand, the fundamental design principles of 2D barcodes make it difficult to add security features. In this paper, we propose SBVLC - a secure system for barcode-based visible light communication (VLC) between smartphones. We formally analyze the security of SBVLC based on geometric models and propose physical security enhancement mechanisms for barcode communication by manipulating screen view angles and leveraging user-induced motions. We then develop two secure data exchange schemes. These schemes are useful in many security-sensitive mobile applications including private information sharing, secure device pairing, and mobile payment. SBVLC is evaluated through extensive experiments on both Android and iOS smartphones.
ISSN:0743-166X
2641-9874
DOI:10.1109/INFOCOM.2014.6848214