Paper Info
Title
A closer look into privacy and security of Chromecast multimedia cloud communications
Abstract
Cloud computing has enabled a wide range of streaming multimedia applications and many HDMI based devices have emerged as a result. Chromecast is one of these devices that plugs into the HDMI port of a larger screen and turns it into a smart screen. With Chromecast, you can stream videos from the cloud onto a larger screen and control it from a mobile device such as a smart-phone, tablet or a laptop. The idea is to cast the multimedia to a larger second screen and use the smaller one as a remote control. A growing number of cloud based multimedia content providers such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and HBO are offering applications to support Chromecast streaming for mobile operating systems. This device uses Discovery and Launch (DIAL) protocol, developed by YouTube and Netflix. We examined the network packets exchanged between the smaller remote control device and the Chromecast attached larger screen. While Chromecast encrypts most of the content, remote control device sends control packets to the cloud servers in the clear-text, which makes it vulnerable to reply-attacks or session-hijacking attacks. Besides, data communication with cloud servers leak personal information outside of the home-network, raising privacy concerns. Network protocols used by Chromecast are investigated and known vulnerabilities are listed. A method to detect the existence of Chromecast behind a home-router is proposed.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1109/INFCOMW.2015.7179371
2015 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS)
Keywords
Field
DocType
security,Chromecast multimedia cloud communications,cloud computing,streaming multimedia applications,HDMI based devices,smart screen,video streaming,mobile device,smart-phone,tablet,laptop,YouTube,Netflix,Hulu,HBO,mobile operating systems,discovery and launch protocol,DIAL protocol,network packets,remote control device,content encryption,cloud servers,reply-attacks,session-hijacking attacks,data communication,home-network,privacy concerns,network protocols,home-router
Cloud communications,Laptop,Computer science,Network packet,Server,Computer network,Second screen,Mobile device,Multimedia,Cloud computing,Communications protocol
Conference
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
2159-4228
0
0.34
References 
Authors
7
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ali Tekeoglu141.82
Ali Saman Tosun214418.94