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One Billion Apples' Secret Sauce: Recipe for the Apple Wireless Direct Link Ad hoc Protocol

Stute, Milan ; Kreitschmann, David ; Hollick, Matthias (2020)
One Billion Apples' Secret Sauce: Recipe for the Apple Wireless Direct Link Ad hoc Protocol.
24th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM MobiCom 2018). New Delhi India (29.10.-2.11.2018)
doi: 10.25534/tuprints-00013315
Conference or Workshop Item, Secondary publication, Postprint

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Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
Type of entry: Secondary publication
Title: One Billion Apples' Secret Sauce: Recipe for the Apple Wireless Direct Link Ad hoc Protocol
Language: English
Date: 30 November 2020
Place of Publication: Darmstadt
Year of primary publication: 2018
Place of primary publication: New York, NY
Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery
Book Title: MobiCom '18: Proceedings of the 24th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking
Event Title: 24th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM MobiCom 2018)
Event Location: New Delhi India
Event Dates: 29.10.-2.11.2018
DOI: 10.25534/tuprints-00013315
Corresponding Links:
Origin: Secondary publication service
Abstract:

Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) is a proprietary and undocumented IEEE 802.11-based ad hoc protocol. Apple first introduced AWDL around 2014 and has since integrated it into its entire product line, including iPhone and Mac. While we have found that AWDL drives popular applications such as AirPlay and AirDrop on more than one billion end-user devices, neither the protocol itself nor potential security and Wi-Fi coexistence issues have been studied. In this paper, we present the operation of the protocol as the result of binary and runtime analysis. In short, each AWDL node announces a sequence of Availability Windows (AWs) indicating its readiness to communicate with other AWDL nodes. An elected master node synchronizes these sequences. Outside the AWs, nodes can tune their Wi-Fi radio to a different channel to communicate with an access point, or could turn it off to save energy. Based on our analysis, we conduct experiments to study the master election process, synchronization accuracy, channel hopping dynamics, and achievable throughput. We conduct a preliminary security assessment and publish an open source Wireshark dissector for AWDL to nourish future work.

Status: Postprint
URN: urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-133151
Classification DDC: 000 Generalities, computers, information > 004 Computer science
Divisions: 20 Department of Computer Science > Sichere Mobile Netze
Profile Areas > Cybersecurity (CYSEC)
LOEWE > LOEWE-Schwerpunkte > NiCER – Networked infrastructureless Cooperation for Emergency Response
LOEWE > LOEWE-Zentren > CRISP - Center for Research in Security and Privacy
Date Deposited: 30 Nov 2020 12:26
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2023 09:42
URI: https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/13315
PPN: 47439459X
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