Securing Cognitive Radio Networks using blockchains

Due to the increase in industrial applications of Internet of Things (IoT), number of internet connected devices have been increased accordingly. This has resulted in big challenges in terms of accessibility, scalability, connectivity and adaptability. IoT is capable of creating connections between devices on wireless medium but the utilization of scarce spectrum in efficient manner for the establishment of these connections is the biggest concern. To accommodate spectrum allocation problem different radio technologies are being utilized. One of the most efficient technique being used is cognitive radio, which dynamically allocate the unlicensed spectrum for IoT applications. Spectrum sensing being the fundamental component of Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) is threatened by security attacks. Process of spectrum sensing is disturbed by the malicious user (MU) which attacks the primary signal detection and affects the accuracy of sensing outcome. The presence of such MU in system, sending false sensing data can degrade the performance of cognitive radios. Therefore, in this article a blockchain based method is proposed for the MU detection in network. By using this method an MU can easily be discriminated from a reliable user through cryptographic keys. The efficiency of the proposed mechanism is analyzed through proper simulations using MATLAB. Consequently, this mechanism can be deployed for the validation of participating users in the process of spectrum sensing in CRN for IoTs.publishe

Efficient Advanced Encryption Standard for Securing Cognitive Radio Networks

During the last decade, the CR (Cognitive Radio) came into view as a major wireless technology to resolve the issue of spectrum secrecy and efficient spectrum utilization. However, due to unlicensed (secondary) users, there are various security threats to the CRN (Cognitive Radio Networks). Some malicious users may access the CRN and mislead the secondary users to vacate the occupied channel, which may stop the communication. In this work, we propose a new cryptographic-based algorithm, CRAES (Cognitive Radio-Advanced Encryption Standard), inspired by the traditional AES to secure the CRN. The data of the primary and secondary users is encrypted at the transmitter and decrypted at the receiver. Unlike the conventional AES, we introduce the data-dependent key-generation and shift-rows process. We also reduce the rounds of AES from 10-6 to improve the computational efficiency without compromising the overall security. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed CR-AES in terms of better security, reliability, and computational efficiency

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

Estudi de la producció científica MASTEAM

Els professors que imparteixen docència al MASTEAM (Master's degree in Applied Telecommunications and Engineering Management ) a l’EETAC (Escola d’Enginyeria de Telecomunicació i Aerospacial de Castelldefels de la UPC), provenen en la seva majoria del camp de les Telecomunicacions. Hem volgut estudiar la seva producció científica, tenint en compte els íitems publicats, anys de publicació, autors, centres col·laboradors en les co-autories, etc. També oferim una taula amb els 20 articles més citats. En total, els professors que imparteixen docència al MASTEAM han publicat entre tots 1.314 documents.Postprint (author's final draft

Digital signature-based secure communication in cognitive radio networks

Due to the rapid growth of wireless applications, Cognitive Radio (CR) has been considered as a demanding concept for improving the utilization of limited radio spectrum resources for future wireless communications and mobile computing. The unique characteristics of Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) make security more challenging. Since a member of Cognitive Radio Networks may join or leave the network at any time, the issue of supporting secure communication in CRNs becomes more critical than for other conventional wireless networks. This work thus proposes digital signature-based secure communication for identifying efficient primary users in CRNs. The security analysis is analyzed to guarantee that the proposed approach achieves security proof

Emulación de usuario primario en la red de radio cognitiva móvil: estudio

For emerging networks such as the mobile cognitive radio network, it is essential to study their possible attacks and thus generate detection strategies. Generally attacks are focused on only one layer of the OSI model, they have been studied for each layer from the physical level to the application level and have focused on fixed secondary users. In cognitive radio networks, the primary user emulation (PUE) is the most studied attack since it affects the entire cognitive cycle from the physical layer to the upper layers. This paper defines types of PUE attack and countermeasures, analyzing the effects on fixed and mobile secondary users and attackers.En el caso de las redes emergentes, como la red de radiocomunicaciones cognitivas móviles, es esencial estudiar sus posibles ataques y generar así estrategias de detección. Por lo general, los ataques se centran en una sola capa del modelo OSI, se han estudiado para cada capa desde el nivel físico hasta el nivel de aplicación y se han centrado en los usuarios secundarios fijos. En las redes de radiocomunicaciones cognitivas, la emulación de usuario primario (PUE) es el ataque más estudiado, ya que afecta a todo el ciclo cognitivo desde la capa física hasta las capas superiores. En este documento se definen los tipos de ataque PUE y las contramedidas, analizando los efectos en los usuarios secundarios fijos y móviles y en los atacantes

A combinational approach for trust establishment in cognitive radio networks

Cognitive Radio is considered as a promising and demanding technology to examine whether a particular radio spectrum band is currently in use or not and to switch into the temporarily unoccupied spectrum band in order to improve the usage of the radio electromagnetic spectrum without creating interference to the transmissions of other users. Because of the dynamic properties of CRNs, the issue of supporting secure communication in CRNs becomes more critical than that of other conventional wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a combination of certificate-based trust with a behavior-based trust which will benefit both by representing the trust as certificates in the the predeployment trust relation and by providing a continuous behaviour-based evalution of trust