Spectrum sharing security and attacks in CRNs: a review

Cognitive Radio plays a major part in communication technology by resolving the shortage of the spectrum through usage of dynamic spectrum access and artificial intelligence characteristics. The element of spectrum sharing in cognitive radio is a fundament al approach in utilising free channels. Cooperatively communicating cognitive radio devices use the common control channel of the cognitive radio medium access control to achieve spectrum sharing. Thus, the common control channel and consequently spectrum sharing security are vital to ensuring security in the subsequent data communication among cognitive radio nodes. In addition to well known security problems in wireless networks, cognitive radio networks introduce new classes of security threats and challenges, such as licensed user emulation attacks in spectrum sensing and misbehaviours in the common control channel transactions, which degrade the overall network operation and performance. This review paper briefly presents the known threats and attacks in wireless networks before it looks into the concept of cognitive radio and its main functionality. The paper then mainly focuses on spectrum sharing security and its related challenges. Since spectrum sharing is enabled through usage of the common control channel, more attention is paid to the security of the common control channel by looking into its security threats as well as protection and detection mechanisms. Finally, the pros and cons as well as the comparisons of different CR - specific security mechanisms are presented with some open research issues and challenges

Detection And Prevention Of Types Of Attacks Using Machine Learning Techniques In Cognitive Radio Networks

A number of studies have been done on several types of data link and network layer attacks and defenses for CSS in CRNs, but there are still a number of challenges unsolved and open issues waiting for solutions. Specifically, from the perspective of attackers, when launching the attack, users have to take into account of the factors of attack gain, attack cost and attack risk, together.  From the perspective of defenders, there are also three aspects deserving consideration: defense reliability, defense efficiency and defense universality. The attacks and defenses are mutually coupled from each other. Attackers need to adjust their strategies to keep their negative effects on final decisions and avoid defenders’ detection, while defenders have to learn and analyze attack behaviors and designs effective defense rules. Indeed, attack and defense ought to be considered together. the proposed methodology overcomes the problems of several data link and network layer attacks and it effects in CSS(Co-operative Spectrum Sensing) of CNRs using Machine Learning based Defense, Cross layers optimization techniques and Defence based Prevention mechanisms

Contributions to the security of cognitive radio networks

The increasing emergence of wireless applications along with the static spectrum allocation followed by regulatory bodies has led to a high inefficiency in spectrum usage, and the lack of spectrum for new services. In this context, Cognitive Radio (CR) technology has been proposed as a possible solution to reuse the spectrum being underutilized by licensed services. CRs are intelligent devices capable of sensing the medium and identifying those portions of the spectrum being unused. Based on their current perception of the environment and on that learned from past experiences, they can optimally tune themselves with regard to parameters such as frequency, coding and modulation, among others. Due to such properties, Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) can act as secondary users of the spectrum left unused by their legal owners or primary users, under the requirement of not interfering primary communications. The successful deployment of these networks relies on the proper design of mechanisms in order to efficiently detect spectrum holes, adapt to changing environment conditions and manage the available spectrum. Furthermore, the need for addressing security issues is evidenced by two facts. First, as for any other type of wireless network, the air is used as communications medium and can easily be accessed by attackers. On the other hand, the particular attributes of CRNs offer new opportunities to malicious users, ranging from providing wrong information on the radio environment to disrupting the cognitive mechanisms, which could severely undermine the operation of these networks. In this Ph.D thesis we have approached the challenge of securing Cognitive Radio Networks. Because CR technology is still evolving, to achieve this goal involves not only providing countermeasures for existing attacks but also to identify new potential threats and evaluate their impact on CRNs performance. The main contributions of this thesis can be summarized as follows. First, a critical study on the State of the Art in this area is presented. A qualitative analysis of those threats to CRNs already identified in the literature is provided, and the efficacy of existing countermeasures is discussed. Based on this work, a set of guidelines are designed in order to design a detection system for the main threats to CRNs. Besides, a high level description of the components of this system is provided, being it the second contribution of this thesis. The third contribution is the proposal of a new cross-layer attack to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in CRNs. An analytical model of the impact of this attack on the throughput of TCP connections is derived, and a set of countermeasures in order to detect and mitigate the effect of such attack are proposed. One of the main threats to CRNs is the Primary User Emulation (PUE) attack. This attack prevents CRNs from using available portions of the spectrum and can even lead to a Denial of Service (DoS). In the fourth contribution of this the method is proposed in order to deal with such attack. The method relies on a set of time measures provided by the members of the network and allows estimating the position of an emitter. This estimation is then used to determine the legitimacy of a given transmission and detect PUE attacks. Cooperative methods are prone to be disrupted by malicious nodes reporting false data. This problem is addressed, in the context of cooperative location, in the fifth and last contribution of this thesis. A method based on Least Median Squares (LMS) fitting is proposed in order to detect forged measures and make the location process robust to them. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed methodologies are demonstrated by means of simulation

Novel Approaches for the Performance Enhancement of Cognitive Radio Networks

This research is dedicated to the study of the challenges faced by Cognitive Radio (CR) networks, which include self-coexistence of the networks in the spectral environment, security and performance threats from malicious entities, and fairness in spectrum contention and utilization. We propose novel channel acquisition schemes that allow decentralized CR networks to have multiple channel access with minimal spectrum contentions. The multiple channel acquisition schemes facilitate fast spectrum access especially in cases where networks cannot communicate with each other. These schemes enable CR networks to self-organize and adapt to the dynamically changing spectral environment. We also present a self-coexistence mechanism that allows CR networks to coexist via the implementation of a risk-motivated channel selection based deference structure (DS). By forming DS coalitions, CR networks are able to have better access to preferred channels and can defer transmission to one another, thereby mitigating spectrum conflicts. CR networks are also known to be susceptible to Sybil threats from smart malicious radios with either monopolistic or disruptive intentions. We formulate novel threat and defense mechanisms to combat Sybil threats and minimize their impact on the performance of CR networks. A dynamic reputation system is proposed that considerably minimizes the effectiveness of intelligent Sybil attacks and improves the accuracy of spectrum-based decision-making processes. Finally, we present a distributed and cheat-proof spectrum contention protocol as an enhancement of the adaptive On-Demand Spectrum Contention (ODSC) protocol. The Modified On-Demand Spectrum Contention (MODSC) protocol enhances fairness and efficiency of spectrum access. We also show that there is substantial improvement in spectrum utilization with the incorporation of channel reuse into the MODSC protocol

A Survey on the Communication Protocols and Security in Cognitive Radio Networks

A cognitive radio (CR) is a radio that can change its transmission parameters based on the perceived availability of the spectrum bands in its operating environment. CRs support dynamic spectrum access and can facilitate a secondary unlicensed user to efficiently utilize the available underutilized spectrum allocated to the primary licensed users. A cognitive radio network (CRN) is composed of both the secondary users with CR-enabled radios and the primary users whose radios need not be CR-enabled. Most of the active research conducted in the area of CRNs has been so far focused on spectrum sensing, allocation and sharing. There is no comprehensive review paper available on the strategies for medium access control (MAC), routing and transport layer protocols, and the appropriate representative solutions for CRNs. In this paper, we provide an exhaustive analysis of the various techniques/mechanisms that have been proposed in the literature for communication protocols (at the MAC, routing and transport layers), in the context of a CRN, as well as discuss in detail several security attacks that could be launched on CRNs and the countermeasure solutions that have been proposed to avoid or mitigate them. This paper would serve as a good comprehensive review and analysis of the strategies for MAC, routing and transport protocols and security issues for CRNs as well as would lay a strong foundation for someone to further delve onto any particular aspect in greater depth

Byzantine Attack and Defense in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Survey

The Byzantine attack in cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS), also known as the spectrum sensing data falsification (SSDF) attack in the literature, is one of the key adversaries to the success of cognitive radio networks (CRNs). In the past couple of years, the research on the Byzantine attack and defense strategies has gained worldwide increasing attention. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey and tutorial on the recent advances in the Byzantine attack and defense for CSS in CRNs. Specifically, we first briefly present the preliminaries of CSS for general readers, including signal detection techniques, hypothesis testing, and data fusion. Second, we analyze the spear and shield relation between Byzantine attack and defense from three aspects: the vulnerability of CSS to attack, the obstacles in CSS to defense, and the games between attack and defense. Then, we propose a taxonomy of the existing Byzantine attack behaviors and elaborate on the corresponding attack parameters, which determine where, who, how, and when to launch attacks. Next, from the perspectives of homogeneous or heterogeneous scenarios, we classify the existing defense algorithms, and provide an in-depth tutorial on the state-of-the-art Byzantine defense schemes, commonly known as robust or secure CSS in the literature. Furthermore, we highlight the unsolved research challenges and depict the future research directions.Comment: Accepted by IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutoiral

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Based on Smart Meters in Smart Grid

Due to lack of situational awareness, automated analysis, poor visibility, and mechanical switches, today\u27s electric power grid has been aging and ill‐suited to the demand for electricity, which has gradually increased, in the twenty‐first century. Besides, the global climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions on the Earth caused by the electricity industries, the growing population, one‐way communication, equipment failures, energy storage problems, the capacity limitations of electricity generation, decrease in fossil fuels, and resilience problems put more stress on the existing power grid. Consequently, the smart grid (SG) has emerged to address these challenges. To realize the SG, an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) based on smart meters is the most important key