A bidirectional Bluetooth authentication scheme based on game-theoretic framwork

A new Bluetooth authentication model using some game theory concepts is presented in this paper. Bluetooth is a wireless communication protocol designed for WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Nework) use. Game theory is a branch of mathematics and logic which deals with the analysis of games. An authentication between two Bluetooth devices is an unidirectional challenge-response procedure and consequently, has many vulnerabilities. We propose a bidirectional authentication scheme in which the authentication is considered as a noncooperative non-zero-sum bimatrix game. Three strategies are defined for each player, and the best-response strategies (also called Nash equilibria) for this game are computed. Using Simplex algorithm, we find only one Nash equilibrium corresponding to the case where both Bluetooth devices are authentic and trying to securily communicate together. In a Nash equilibrium, no player has an incentive to deviate from such situation.