2023/01/17 by Christopher Vattheuer, Vattheuer, Christopher, Charlie Liu +5
Computer Science · Engineering · #Battery (electricity) #Computer network #Computer science #Computer security #Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) #Denial-of-service attack #Embedded system #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Home security #Interrupt #IoT-based Smart Home Systems #Network Security and Intrusion Detection #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #Operating system #Power (physics) #Power consumption #Smart Grid Security and Resilience #Telecommunications #Wireless
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2301.07202
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2023/01/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Home security systems have become increasingly popular since they provide an additional layer of protection and peace of mind. These systems typically include battery-powered motion sensors, contact sensors, and smart locks. Z-Wave is a very popular wireless communication technology for these low-power systems. In this paper, we demonstrate two new attacks targeting Z-Wave devices. First, we show how an attacker can remotely attack Z-Wave security devices to increase their power consumption by three orders of magnitude, reducing their battery life from a few years to just a few hours. Second, we show multiple Denial of Service (DoS) attacks which enables an attacker to interrupt the operation of security systems in just a few seconds. Our experiments show that these attacks are effective even when the attacker device is in a car 100 meters away from the targeted house.