Markov Decision Processes with Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of autonomous and resource-limited devices. The devices cooperate to monitor one or more physical phenomena within an area of interest. WSNs operate as stochastic systems because of randomness in the monitored environments. For long service time and low maintenance cost, WSNs require adaptive and robust methods to address data exchange, topology formulation, resource and power optimization, sensing coverage and object detection, and security challenges. In these problems, sensor nodes are to make optimized decisions from a set of accessible strategies to achieve design goals. This survey reviews numerous applications of the Markov decision process (MDP) framework, a powerful decision-making tool to develop adaptive algorithms and protocols for WSNs. Furthermore, various solution methods are discussed and compared to serve as a guide for using MDPs in WSNs

Game Theory Approaches in Taxonomy of Intrusion Detection for MANETs

MANETs are self configuring networks that are formed by a set of wireless mobile nodes and have no fixed network infrastructure nor administrative support. Since transmission range of wireless network interfaces is limited, forwarding hosts may be needed. Each node in a wireless ad hoc network functions is as both a host and a router. Due to their communication type and resources constraint, MANETs are vulnerable to diverse types of attacks and intrusions so, security is a critical issue. Network security is usually provided in the three phases: intrusion prevention, intrusion detection and intrusion tolerance phase. However, the network security problem is far from completely solved. Researchers have been exploring the applicability of game theory approaches to address the network security issues. This paper reviews some existing game theory solutions which are designed to enhance network security in the intrusion detection phase. Keywords: Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET), Intrusion detection system (IDS), Cluster head, host based, Game theory

A Comprehensive Insight into Game Theory in relevance to Cyber Security

The progressively ubiquitous connectivity in the present information systems pose newer challenges tosecurity. The conventional security mechanisms have come a long way in securing the well-definedobjectives of confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and availability. Nevertheless, with the growth in thesystem complexities and attack sophistication, providing security via traditional means can beunaffordable. A novel theoretical perspective and an innovative approach are thus required forunderstanding security from decision-making and strategic viewpoint. One of the analytical tools whichmay assist the researchers in designing security protocols for computer networks is game theory. Thegame-theoretic concept finds extensive applications in security at different levels, including thecyberspace and is generally categorized under security games. It can be utilized as a robust mathematicaltool for modelling and analyzing contemporary security issues. Game theory offers a natural frameworkfor capturing the defensive as well as adversarial interactions between the defenders and the attackers.Furthermore, defenders can attain a deep understanding of the potential attack threats and the strategiesof attackers by equilibrium evaluation of the security games. In this paper, the concept of game theoryhas been presented, followed by game-theoretic applications in cybersecurity including cryptography.Different types of games, particularly those focused on securing the cyberspace, have been analysed andvaried game-theoretic methodologies including mechanism design theories have been outlined foroffering a modern foundation of the science of cybersecurity

Energy Efficient unauthorized Intrusion Detection in mobile Ad-Hoc Neworks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) are self-configuring, infrastructure-less, dynamic wireless networks in which the nodes are resource constrained. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are used in MANETs to monitor activities so as to detect any intrusion in the network. The proposed system present efficient scheme for analyzing and optimizing the time duration for which the intrusion detection systems need to remain active in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network. A probabilistic model is proposed that makes use of cooperation between IDSs among neighborhood nodes to reduce their individual active time. Usually, an IDS has to run all the time on every node to oversee the network behavior. This can turn out to be a costly overhead for a battery-powered mobile device in terms of power and computational resources. Hence, this project aim is to reduce the duration of active time of the IDSs without compromising on their effectiveness. To validate this proposed approach, it models the interactions between IDSs as a multi-player cooperative game in which the players have partially cooperative and partially conflicting goals

Energy Efficient Unauthorized Intrusion Detection in Mobile AD-HOC Networks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) are self-configuring, infrastructure-less, dynamic wireless networks in which the nodes are resource constrained. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are used in MANETs to monitor activities so as to detect any intrusion in the network. The proposed system present efficient scheme for analyzing and optimizing the time duration for which the intrusion detection systems need to remain active in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network. A probabilistic model is proposed that makes use of cooperation between IDSs among neighborhood nodes to reduce their individual active time. Usually, an IDS has to run all the time on every node to oversee the network behavior. This can turn out to be a costly overhead for a battery-powered mobile device in terms of power and computational resources. Hence, this project aim is to reduce the duration of active time of the IDSs without compromising on their effectiveness. To validate this proposed approach, it models the interactions between IDSs as a multi-player cooperative game in which the players have partially cooperative and partially conflicting goals

Security and Privacy Issues in Wireless Mesh Networks: A Survey

This book chapter identifies various security threats in wireless mesh network (WMN). Keeping in mind the critical requirement of security and user privacy in WMNs, this chapter provides a comprehensive overview of various possible attacks on different layers of the communication protocol stack for WMNs and their corresponding defense mechanisms. First, it identifies the security vulnerabilities in the physical, link, network, transport, application layers. Furthermore, various possible attacks on the key management protocols, user authentication and access control protocols, and user privacy preservation protocols are presented. After enumerating various possible attacks, the chapter provides a detailed discussion on various existing security mechanisms and protocols to defend against and wherever possible prevent the possible attacks. Comparative analyses are also presented on the security schemes with regards to the cryptographic schemes used, key management strategies deployed, use of any trusted third party, computation and communication overhead involved etc. The chapter then presents a brief discussion on various trust management approaches for WMNs since trust and reputation-based schemes are increasingly becoming popular for enforcing security in wireless networks. A number of open problems in security and privacy issues for WMNs are subsequently discussed before the chapter is finally concluded.Comment: 62 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables. This chapter is an extension of the author's previous submission in arXiv submission: arXiv:1102.1226. There are some text overlaps with the previous submissio

Multi-Layer Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience for Smart Grid

The smart grid is a large-scale complex system that integrates communication technologies with the physical layer operation of the energy systems. Security and resilience mechanisms by design are important to provide guarantee operations for the system. This chapter provides a layered perspective of the smart grid security and discusses game and decision theory as a tool to model the interactions among system components and the interaction between attackers and the system. We discuss game-theoretic applications and challenges in the design of cross-layer robust and resilient controller, secure network routing protocol at the data communication and networking layers, and the challenges of the information security at the management layer of the grid. The chapter will discuss the future directions of using game-theoretic tools in addressing multi-layer security issues in the smart grid.Comment: 16 page