Cybersecurity in Radio Frequency Technologies: A Scientometric and Systematic Review with Implications for IoT and Wireless Applications

Кибербезопасность в радиочастотных технологиях: наукометрический и систематический обзор с выводами для приложений Интернета вещей и беспроводных систем
Patrícia Rodrigues de Araújo, José Antonio Moreira de Rezende, Décio R. M. Faria, Otávio de Souza Martins Gomes
2026-01-22

IoT networksPRISMA protocolRF cybersecurityscientometric reviewspoofing and jamming
Cybersecurity in radio frequency (RF) technologies has become a critical concern, driven by the expansion of connected systems in urban and industrial environments. Although research on wireless networks and the Internet of Things (IoT) has advanced, comprehensive studies that provide a global and integrated view of cybersecurity development in this field remain limited. This work presents a scientometric and systematic review of international publications from 2009 to 2025, integrating the PRISMA protocol with semantic screening supported by a Large Language Model to enhance classification accuracy and reproducibility. The analysis identified two interdependent axes: one focusing on signal integrity and authentication in GNSS systems and cellular networks; the other addressing the resilience of IoT networks, both strongly associated with spoofing and jamming, as well as replay, relay, eavesdropping, and man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. The results highlight the relevance of RF cybersecurity in securing communication infrastructures and expose gaps in widely adopted technologies such as RFID, NFC, BLE, ZigBee, LoRa, Wi-Fi, and unlicensed ISM bands, as well as in emerging areas like terahertz and 6G. These gaps directly affect the reliability and availability of IoT and wireless communication systems, increasing security risks in large-scale deployments such as smart cities and cyber-physical infrastructures.
1
RF cybersecurity research centers on two interdependent axes: signal integrity and authentication in GNSS/cellular systems, and IoT network resilience.
2
Significant cybersecurity gaps remain across RFID, NFC, BLE, ZigBee, LoRa, Wi-Fi, ISM-band technologies, terahertz systems, and emerging 6G.
3
Spoofing and jamming are dominant concerns, alongside replay, relay, eavesdropping, and man-in-the-middle attacks.
4
The review analyzes international RF cybersecurity publications from 2009 to 2025 using PRISMA and LLM-supported semantic screening.
5
These gaps threaten the reliability and availability of large-scale IoT, smart-city, and cyber-physical communication infrastructures.

RF-based communication technologies and networks, including GNSS, cellular, IoT, RFID, NFC, BLE, ZigBee, LoRa, Wi-Fi, ISM-band, terahertz, and 6G systems

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities, attack resilience, signal integrity, authentication, and the reliability and availability of RF-based communication systems

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2026-01-22
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Patrícia Rodrigues de Araújo
José Antonio Moreira de Rezende
Décio R. M. Faria
Otávio de Souza Martins Gomes
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