Short-Range Audio Channels Security: Survey of Mechanisms, Applications, and Research Challenges

Short-range audio channels have appealing distinguishing characteristics: ease of use, low deployment costs, and easy to tune frequencies, to cite a few. Moreover, thanks to their seamless adaptability to the security context, many techniques and tools based on audio signals have been recently proposed. However, while the most promising solutions are turning into valuable commercial products, acoustic channels are also increasingly used to launch attacks against systems and devices, leading to security concerns that could thwart their adoption. To provide a rigorous, scientific, security-oriented review of the field, in this paper we survey and classify methods, applications, and use-cases rooted on short-range audio channels for the provisioning of security services - including Two-Factor Authentication techniques, pairing solutions, device authorization strategies, defense methodologies, and attack schemes. Moreover, we also point out the strengths and weaknesses deriving from the use of short-range audio channels. Finally, we provide open research issues in the context of short-range audio channels security, calling for contributions from both academia and industry.