Downlink control channel encryption for jamming resilience
Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. The methods, systems, and devices may employ mechanisms for encrypting downlink control channels for jamming resilience. The methods, systems, and devices may include or may be configured to generate and receive a security configuration, obtain a downlink control channel encryption key, transmit a control channel message, and decrypt the transmitted messaged based on the encryption key.
1. A method of wireless communication at a client device, the method comprising:
receiving a security configuration from a base station, wherein the security configuration comprises information indicating that a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message is encrypted using a multicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is encrypted using a unicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is protected using a message authentication code (MAC), or a combination thereof;
obtaining a PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on the received security configuration; and
decrypting the PDCCH message from the base station based at least in part on the obtained encryption key.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the PDCCH encryption key comprises:
deriving the PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on a shared key between the base station and the client device.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the PDCCH encryption key comprises:
establishing a secure channel between the base station and the client device; and
receiving the PDCCH encryption key from the base station over the secure channel established between the base station and the client device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein decrypting the PDCCH message comprises:
verifying integrity of the PDCCH message based at least in part on the received security configuration.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein verifying the integrity of the PDCCH message comprises:
computing a computed MAC based at least in part on a PDCCH integrity protection key common to all client devices that receive the PDCCH integrity protection key from the base station.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein verifying the integrity of the PDCCH message comprises:
computing a computed MAC based at least in part on a PDCCH integrity protection key unique to the client device.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein verifying the integrity of the PDCCH message comprises:
comparing the computed MAC with the MAC included within the PDCCH.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) checksum of the PDCCH message is replaced by the MAC.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the security configuration comprises:
establishing a secure channel between the base station and the client device; and
receiving the security configuration over the secure channel established between the base station and the client device.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the secure channel is established based at least in part on a shared key between the base station and the client device.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the secure channel comprises a radio resource control (RRC) channel.
12. A method of wireless communication at a base station, the method comprising:
generating a security configuration, wherein the security configuration comprises information indicating that a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message is encrypted using a multicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is encrypted using a unicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is protected using a message authentication code (MAC), or a combination thereof;
transmitting the security configuration to a client device;
obtaining a PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on the security configuration;
generating an encrypted PDCCH message based at least in part on the obtained PDCCH encryption key; and
transmitting the encrypted PDCCH message to the client device.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the security configuration is based at least in part on a configuration of the base station.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein transmitting the security configuration comprises:
establishing a secure channel between the base station and the client device; and
transmitting the security configuration over the secure channel established between the base station and the client device.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the encrypted PDCCH message comprises:
encrypting a PDCCH message using the obtained PDCCH encryption key.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
transmitting the obtained PDCCH encryption key to the client device.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein obtaining the PDCCH encryption key comprises:
randomly generating the PDCCH encryption key.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the PDCCH encryption key is obtained based at least in part on a device-specific encryption key.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
generating the device-specific encryption key based at least in part on a shared key between the base station and the client device.
20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
establishing a secure channel between the base station and the client device based at least in part on a shared key between the base station and the client device.
21. The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the encrypted PDCCH message further comprises:
computing the MAC based at least in part on a PDCCH integrity protection key common to all client devices that receive the PDCCH integrity protection key from the base station.
22. The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the encrypted PDCCH message further comprises:
computing the MAC based at least in part on a PDCCH integrity protection key unique to the client device.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein a CRC checksum of the PDCCH message is replaced by the MAC.
24. The method of claim 12 , wherein the encrypted PDCCH message comprises the MAC.
25. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:
a processor;
a memory in electronic communication with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
receive a security configuration from a base station, wherein the security configuration comprises information indicating that a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message is encrypted using a multicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is encrypted using a unicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is protected using a message authentication code (MAC), or a combination thereof;
obtain a PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on the received security configuration; and
decrypt a PDCCH message from the base station based at least in part on the obtained encryption key.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
derive the PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on a shared key between the base station and the client device.
27. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:
a processor;
a memory in electronic communication with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
generate a security configuration, wherein the security configuration comprises information indicating that a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message is encrypted using a multicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is encrypted using a unicast encryption key, or the PDCCH message is protected using a message authentication code (MAC), or a combination thereof;
transmit the security configuration to a client device;
obtain a PDCCH encryption key based at least in part on the security configuration;
generate an encrypted PDCCH message based at least in part on the obtained PDCCH encryption key; and
transmit the encrypted PDCCH message to the client device.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
encrypt a PDCCH message using the obtained PDCCH encryption key.