EMIT: Reflection-Based Charging Jamming Attack

Recently, Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks (WRSNs) based platforms have become promising for broad applications. However, if an adversary disrupts the wireless charging process in WRSNs, sensors may die due to lack of timely energy supply, compromising the reliability and availability of systems relying on sensing tasks. In this paper, we develop a zero-cost power jamming attack in WRSNs, termed r<underline xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</u>flection-based ja<underline xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">M</u>m<underline xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</u>ng a<underline xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</u>tack (EMIT), which introduces an off-the-shelf and inconspicuous reflector such as a Coca-Cola can that intentionally reflects the wave from the charger to destructively interfere with the charging wave at the target sensor. Our approach lifts the limitations of traditional charging attacks, including high cost, complex implementation and ease of detection. We conduct extensive field experiments to evaluate EMIT attack in different types of WRSNs. The results show that on average, the success rate of EMIT attack is 90% in WRSNs with fixed charging locations, and 75% in WRSNs with dynamic charging locations. Finally, we build a real-world WRSN on university campus to study the effectiveness of EMIT attack in complex scenarios. In total, EMIT attack causes 134 sensor deaths over 66 days.