Towards a Framework for Covert Communications for Mitigating Traffic Detection Attacks

This article addresses a critical security challenge in Internet of Things (IoT) systems, which are vulnerable to traffic detection attacks due to their reliance on shared wireless communication channels. We propose a novel cooperative covert transmission strategy to enhance the security of IoT communications against these attacks through the implementation of physical-layer security mechanisms. Inspired by zero-forcing precoding techniques, the proposed approach enables cooperation between different IoT devices in the system to increase the likelihood of adversaries making incorrect conclusions about the communication activity of the targeted IoT device. The proposed covert communication strategy complements traditional security measures, provides a scalable solution, and is suitable for resource-constrained IoT environments. The numerical results in this article demonstrate significant improvements in protecting communications against traffic detection attacks, which contributes to the overall security and privacy of IoT systems.