Wireless Sensor Networking As An Asset And A Liability

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Presented at SOURCE Boston 2009 by

Wireless Sensor Networking (WSN) technology, as typified by Zigbee and ISA100, makes use of ultra-low power microcontrollers and LPAN radios to form self-sufficient networks. A battery-powered network can survive for a year with today's technology, with lifetimes of several years soon to come. Initiatives are in place to make this technology responsible for public utility metering, industrial process controls, home automation, and countless other things. The first section of this lecture will focus upon the technology's use. The benefits and business utility of the technology will be presented in depth, with an aim toward `back of the napkin' solutions to reducing costs and increasing productivity in industry. Potential gadgets and toys will also be presented. Once it has been made clear that this technology is too valuable to overlook, the second half of this lecture will cover how wireless sensors will be exploited, years before such exploits become common. Methods of reverse engineering sensor firmware, forcibly extracting keys, and packet sniffing will all be discussed with graphs and first-hand accounts of the techniques involved.