Innovative Protection System Against Remote AT Command Attacks on ZigBee Networks

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most consolidated technologies adopted in the world. Being exchanged information ex-tremely sensitive, due to the nature of IoT devices and networks, cybersecurity of IoT systems is a critical topic to be investigated in deep by studying protocols, devices and technologies in order to identify possible vulnerabilities and weaknesses. In this work, a threat against ZigBee called Remotely AT Command attack is studied and analyzed in order to develop an innovative protection system able to protect and mitigate devices from this innovative threat. Also, the protection system implemented is tested and validated on a real network by using XBee module, a wireless module adopted to implement and instantiate ZigBee network.The proposed protection system aims to verify if devices are able to communicate on the network when the attack is running. In this case, just before the sensor is ready to communicate on the network, an internal check is accomplished directly by the IoT device: if needed, an additional reconfiguration is accomplished, in order to restore connectivity of the node in order to mitigate the threat. The results of this work are very interesting since, if executed against a real network, the Remote AT Command attack could create huge damage to companies. For this reason, the protection system implemented is an innovative result in terms of research achievement.