Analysis on perfect location spoofing attacks using beamforming

Location spoofing attacks pose serious threats to the location based wireless network mechanisms. Most existing literature focuses on detecting location spoofing attacks or design of robust localization algorithms. However, our study shows that, in many circumstances, perfect location spoofing (PLS) can stay undetected even if robust localization algorithms or detection mechanisms are used. In this paper, we present theoretical analysis on the feasibility of beamforming-based PLS attacks and how it is affected by the anchor deployment. We formulate PLS as a nonlinear feasibility problem based on smart antenna array pattern synthesis. Due to the intractable nature of this feasibility problem, we solve it using semidefinite relaxation (SDR) in conjunction with a heuristic local search algorithm. Simulation results show the effectiveness of our analytical approach and provide insightful advices for defence against PLS attacks.