An Outline of Security in Wireless Sensor Networks: Threats, Countermeasures and Implementations

With the expansion of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the need for securing the data flow through these networks is increasing. These sensor networks allow for easy-to-apply and flexible installations which have enabled them to be used for numerous applications. Due to these properties, they face distinct information security threats. Security of the data flowing through across networks provides the researchers with an interesting and intriguing potential for research. Design of these networks to ensure the protection of data faces the constraints of limited power and processing resources. We provide the basics of wireless sensor network security to help the researchers and engineers in better understanding of this applications field. In this chapter, we will provide the basics of information security with special emphasis on WSNs. The chapter will also give an overview of the information security requirements in these networks. Threats to the security of data in WSNs and some of their counter measures are also presented

Spectrum Sensing and Mitigation of Primary User Emulation Attack in Cognitive Radio

The overwhelming growth of wireless communication has led to spectrum shortage issues. In recent days, cognitive radio (CR) has risen as a complete solution for the issue. It is an artificial intelligence-based radio which is capable of finding the free spectrum and utilises it by adapting itself to the environment. Hence, searching of the free spectrum becomes the key task of the cognitive radio termed as spectrum sensing. Some malicious users disrupt the decision-making ability of the cognitive radio. Proper selection of the spectrum scheme and decision-making capability of the cognitive reduces the chance of colliding with the primary user. This chapter discusses the suitable spectrum sensing scheme for low noise environment and a trilayered solution to mitigate the primary user emulation attack (PUEA) in the physical layer of the cognitive radio. The tag is generated in three ways. Sequences were generated using DNA and chaotic algorithm. These sequences are then used as the initial seed value for the generation of gold codes. The output of the generator is considered as the authentication tag. This tag is used to identify the malicious user, thereby PUEA is mitigated. Threat-free environment enables the cognitive radio to come up with a precise decision about the spectrum holes

Resilient networking in wireless sensor networks

This report deals with security in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), especially in network layer. Multiple secure routing protocols have been proposed in the literature. However, they often use the cryptography to secure routing functionalities. The cryptography alone is not enough to defend against multiple attacks due to the node compromise. Therefore, we need more algorithmic solutions. In this report, we focus on the behavior of routing protocols to determine which properties make them more resilient to attacks. Our aim is to find some answers to the following questions. Are there any existing protocols, not designed initially for security, but which already contain some inherently resilient properties against attacks under which some portion of the network nodes is compromised? If yes, which specific behaviors are making these protocols more resilient? We propose in this report an overview of security strategies for WSNs in general, including existing attacks and defensive measures. In this report we focus at the network layer in particular, and an analysis of the behavior of four particular routing protocols is provided to determine their inherent resiliency to insider attacks. The protocols considered are: Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Gradient-Based Routing (GBR), Greedy Forwarding (GF) and Random Walk Routing (RWR)

Primary User Emulation Attacks: A Detection Technique Based on Kalman Filter

Cognitive radio technology addresses the problem of spectrum scarcity by allowing secondary users to use the vacant spectrum bands without causing interference to the primary users. However, several attacks could disturb the normal functioning of the cognitive radio network. Primary user emulation attacks are one of the most severe attacks in which a malicious user emulates the primary user signal characteristics to either prevent other legitimate secondary users from accessing the idle channels or causing harmful interference to the primary users. There are several proposed approaches to detect the primary user emulation attackers. However, most of these techniques assume that the primary user location is fixed, which does not make them valid when the primary user is mobile. In this paper, we propose a new approach based on the Kalman filter framework for detecting the primary user emulation attacks with a non-stationary primary user. Several experiments have been conducted and the advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated through the simulation results.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Energy hole mitigation through cooperative transmission in wireless sensor networks

The energy balancing capability of cooperative communication is utilized to solve the energy hole problem in wireless sensor networks. We first propose a cooperative transmission strategy, where intermediate nodes participate in two cooperative multi-input single-output (MISO) transmissions with the node at the previous hop and a selected node at the next hop, respectively. Then, we study the optimization problems for power allocation of the cooperative transmission strategy by examining two different approaches: network lifetime maximization (NLM) and energy consumption minimization (ECM). For NLM, the numerical optimal solution is derived and a searching algorithm for suboptimal solution is provided when the optimal solution does not exist. For ECM, a closed-form solution is obtained. Numerical and simulation results show that both the approaches have much longer network lifetime than SISO transmission strategies and other cooperative communication schemes. Moreover, NLM which features energy balancing outperforms ECM which focuses on energy efficiency, in the network lifetime sense

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

GREEN RADIO COMMUNICATIONS IN 5G NETWORKS TO IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING

The technology of green radio communication helps in reducing the emission of carbon and also helps in the process of reducing the consumption of energy by the base stations of wireless networks. In addition to that, with the help of tools such as Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Multi-Hop Relay Network (MHR), the functionalities and the operational attributes of the technology of green radio communication can be improved and the process of energy consumption gets better as well. It is found from the discussion that green networking technology has mainly two core components and the two core components are energy awareness and energy efficiency. The ability of the network to measure the cost per packet is called energy awareness. On the other hand, the ability of a network to decrease the contribution of carbon and extend the lifetime of the network can be called energy efficiency. In addition, the implementation of the technology of green radio communication helps in mitigating the issue of future energy crises. Additionally, it has also been understood that Green communication in terms of energy efficiency can help IT industry which has been extensively criticised for the contribution of the carbon emissions as well as the failure to respond to the negative impact on the whole climate. In fact, the next generation networks have imposed the challenges in terms of the provision of the energy efficient solutions which are provided and the transportation of the data along with the huge range of the quality of the services requirement as well as the tolerance of lower optimum services.The technology of green radio communication helps in reducing the emission of carbon and also helps in the process of reducing the consumption of energy by the base stations of wireless networks. In addition to that, with the help of tools such as Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Multi-Hop Relay Network (MHR), the functionalities and the operational attributes of the technology of green radio communication can be improved and the process of energy consumption gets better as well. It is found from the discussion that green networking technology has mainly two core components and the two core components are energy awareness and energy efficiency. The ability of the network to measure the cost per packet is called energy awareness. On the other hand, the ability of a network to decrease the contribution of carbon and extend the lifetime of the network can be called energy efficiency. In addition, the implementation of the technology of green radio communication helps in mitigating the issue of future energy crises. Additionally, it has also been understood that Green communication in terms of energy efficiency can help IT industry which has been extensively criticised for the contribution of the carbon emissions as well as the failure to respond to the negative impact on the whole climate. In fact, the next generation networks have imposed the challenges in terms of the provision of the energy efficient solutions which are provided and the transportation of the data along with the huge range of the quality of the services requirement as well as the tolerance of lower optimum services

Synoptic analysis techniques for intrusion detection in wireless networks

Current system administrators are missing intrusion alerts hidden by large numbers of false positives. Rather than accumulation more data to identify true alerts, we propose an intrusion detection tool that e?ectively uses select data to provide a picture of ?network health?. Our hypothesis is that by utilizing the data available at both the node and cooperative network levels we can create a synoptic picture of the network providing indications of many intrusions or other network issues. Our major contribution is to provide a revolutionary way to analyze node and network data for patterns, dependence, and e?ects that indicate network issues. We collect node and network data, combine and manipulate it, and tease out information about the state of the network. We present a method based on utilizing the number of packets sent, number of packets received, node reliability, route reliability, and entropy to develop a synoptic picture of the network health in the presence of a sinkhole and a HELLO Flood attacker. This method conserves network throughput and node energy by requiring no additional control messages to be sent between the nodes unless an attacker is suspected. We intend to show that, although the concept of an intrusion detection system is not revolutionary, the method in which we analyze the data for clues about network intrusion and performance is highly innovative

Distributed Nonparametric Sequential Spectrum Sensing under Electromagnetic Interference

A nonparametric distributed sequential algorithm for quick detection of spectral holes in a Cognitive Radio set up is proposed. Two or more local nodes make decisions and inform the fusion centre (FC) over a reporting Multiple Access Channel (MAC), which then makes the final decision. The local nodes use energy detection and the FC uses mean detection in the presence of fading, heavy-tailed electromagnetic interference (EMI) and outliers. The statistics of the primary signal, channel gain or the EMI is not known. Different nonparametric sequential algorithms are compared to choose appropriate algorithms to be used at the local nodes and the FC. Modification of a recently developed random walk test is selected for the local nodes for energy detection as well as at the fusion centre for mean detection. It is shown via simulations and analysis that the nonparametric distributed algorithm developed performs well in the presence of fading, EMI and is robust to outliers. The algorithm is iterative in nature making the computation and storage requirements minimal.Comment: 8 pages; 6 figures; Version 2 has the proofs for the theorems. Version 3 contains a new section on approximation analysi