Remote inspection of adversary-controlled environments

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Cybersecurity
• Applied Engineering

Background:

• Monitoring valuable assets in adversarial environments is challenging.
• Existing methods often require physical access or are susceptible to tampering.
• Ensuring the integrity of sensitive locations and items is crucial for security and trust.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a non-invasive remote monitoring technique for verifying the undisturbed presence of items.
• To extend the concept of physical unclonable functions to large-scale systems for integrity protection.
• To provide a solution for scenarios involving mutual distrust, privacy, and security constraints.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing gigahertz radio-wave scattering and absorption patterns within a monitored room.
• Employing a set of randomly oriented mirrors to create a unique reflective environment.
• Analyzing changes in radio-wave interactions over time to detect disturbances.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated successful remote verification of the absence of disturbances.
• Showcased the technique's ability to maintain integrity monitoring over time.
• Validated the approach for securing physical spaces and valuable assets.

Conclusions:

• The developed radio-wave monitoring technique offers a novel solution for remote integrity verification.
• This method enhances security in adversarial and distrustful environments.
• Potential applications include treaty verification, asset protection, and data center security.