Securing MQTT-based communication for the automobile and medical industries against man-in- the-middle attacks

Nandini, C and Jyothis, K P and Ramyashree, R C and Divya, S (2025) Securing MQTT-based communication for the automobile and medical industries against man-in- the-middle attacks. International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 15 (3). pp. 1748-1760. ISSN 2582-8185

With the increasing adoption of IoT in critical sectors such as automobiles and healthcare, ensuring secure communication has become imperative. This paper presents a prototype system for securing MQTT-based communication using AES and XOR encryption mechanisms on a Raspberry Pi-based sensor platform. The system encrypts sensor data before transmission and decrypts it upon reception, mitigating risks like man-in-the-middle attacks. We compare the impact of encryption schemes on performance metrics such as latency, throughput, and packet loss using tools like Wireshark, iperf3, and MQTT logs. Real-time data from a DHT11 sensor is collected and analyzed under multiple test scenarios. Results show a trade-off between security and performance, with AES providing higher security and XOR offering lower latency. The system architecture, design decisions, and testing strategies are detailed in this paper. The proposed solution serves as a secure and efficient IoT framework for real-world applications in sensitive domains.