Mobile Agent-based Cross-Layer Anomaly Detection in Smart Home Sensor Networks Using Fuzzy Logic

Despite the rapid advancements in consumer electronics, the data transmitted by sensing devices in a smart home environment are still vulnerable to anomalies due to node faults, transmission errors, or attacks. This affects the reliability of the received sensed data and may lead to the incorrect decision making at both local (i.e., smart home) and global (i.e., smart city) levels. This study introduces a novel mobile agent-based cross-layer anomaly detection scheme, which takes into account stochastic variability in cross-layer data obtained from received data packets, and defines fuzzy logic-based soft boundaries to characterize behavior of sensor nodes. This cross-layer design approach empowers the proposed scheme to detect both node and link anomalies, and also effectively transmits mobile agents by considering the communication link-state before transmission of the mobile agent. The proposed scheme is implemented on a real testbed and a modular application software is developed to manage the anomaly detection system in the smart home. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme detects cross-layer anomalies with high accuracy and considerably reduces the energy consumption caused by the mobile agent transmission in the poor communication link-state situations.Griffith Sciences, Griffith School of EngineeringFull Tex

Secure Platform Over Wireless Sensor Networks

Life sciences: general issue

A critical review of cyber-physical security for building automation systems

Modern Building Automation Systems (BASs), as the brain that enables the smartness of a smart building, often require increased connectivity both among system components as well as with outside entities, such as optimized automation via outsourced cloud analytics and increased building-grid integrations. However, increased connectivity and accessibility come with increased cyber security threats. BASs were historically developed as closed environments with limited cyber-security considerations. As a result, BASs in many buildings are vulnerable to cyber-attacks that may cause adverse consequences, such as occupant discomfort, excessive energy usage, and unexpected equipment downtime. Therefore, there is a strong need to advance the state-of-the-art in cyber-physical security for BASs and provide practical solutions for attack mitigation in buildings. However, an inclusive and systematic review of BAS vulnerabilities, potential cyber-attacks with impact assessment, detection & defense approaches, and cyber-secure resilient control strategies is currently lacking in the literature. This review paper fills the gap by providing a comprehensive up-to-date review of cyber-physical security for BASs at three levels in commercial buildings: management level, automation level, and field level. The general BASs vulnerabilities and protocol-specific vulnerabilities for the four dominant BAS protocols are reviewed, followed by a discussion on four attack targets and seven potential attack scenarios. The impact of cyber-attacks on BASs is summarized as signal corruption, signal delaying, and signal blocking. The typical cyber-attack detection and defense approaches are identified at the three levels. Cyber-secure resilient control strategies for BASs under attack are categorized into passive and active resilient control schemes. Open challenges and future opportunities are finally discussed.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, submitted to Annual Reviews in Contro

Formal verification of synchronisation, gossip and environmental effects for wireless sensor networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises a revolution in the monitoring and control of a wide range of applications, from urban water supply networks and precision agriculture food production, to vehicle connectivity and healthcare monitoring. For applications in such critical areas, control software and protocols for IoT systems must be verified to be both robust and reliable. Two of the largest obstacles to robustness and reliability in IoT systems are effects on the hardware caused by environmental conditions, and the choice of parameters used by the protocol. In this paper we use probabilistic model checking to verify that a synchronisation and dissemination protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is correct with respect to its requirements, and is not adversely affected by the environment. We show how the protocol can be converted into a logical model and then analysed using the probabilistic model-checker, PRISM. Using this approach we prove under which circumstances the protocol is guaranteed to synchronise all nodes and disseminate new information to all nodes. We also examine the bounds on synchronisation as the environment changes the performance of the hardware clock, and investigate the scalability constraints of this approach. © 2019 Universitatsbibliothek TU Berlin

Formal Verification of Synchronisation, Gossip and Environmental Effects for Wireless Sensor Networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises a revolution in the monitoring and control of a wide range of applications, from urban water supply networks and precision agriculture food production, to vehicle connectivity and healthcare monitoring. For applications in such critical areas, control software and protocols for IoT systems must be verified to be both robust and reliable. Two of the largest obstacles to robustness and reliability in IoT systems are effects on the hardware caused by environmental conditions, and the choice of parameters used by the protocol. In this paper we use probabilistic model checking to verify that a synchronisation and dissemination protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is correct with respect to its requirements, and is not adversely affected by the environment. We show how the protocol can be converted into a logical model and then analysed using the probabilistic model-checker, PRISM. Using this approach we prove under which circumstances the protocol is guaranteed to synchronise all nodes and disseminate new information to all nodes. We also examine the bounds on synchronisation as the environment changes the performance of the hardware clock, and investigate the scalability constraints of this approach