Denial of service in sensor networks

Abstract

Sensor networks hold the promise of facilitating large-scale, real-time data processing in complex environments. Their foreseeable applications will help protect and monitor military, environmental, safety-critical, or domestic infrastructures and resources.In these and other vital or security-sensitive deployments, keeping the network available for its intended use is essential. The stakes are high: Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against such networks may permit real-world damage to the health and safety of people. Without proper security mechanisms, networks will be confined to limited, controlled environments, negating much of the promise they hold. The limited ability of individual sensor nodes to thwart failure or attack makes ensuring network availability more difficult.To identify DoS vulnerabilities, we analyze two effective sensor network protocols that did not initially consider security. These examples demonstrate that consideration of security at design time is the best way to ensure successful network deployment. THEORY AND APPLICATIONAdvances in miniaturization combined with an insatiable appetite for previously unrealizable information gathering have led to the development of new kinds of networks. In many areas, static infrastructures are giving way to dynamic ad hoc networks.One manifestation of these trends is the development of highly application-dependent sensor networks. Developers build sensor networks to collect and analyze low-level data from an environment of interest. Accomplishing the network's goal often depends on local cooperation, aggregation, or data processing because individual nodes have limited capabilities. Physically small, nodes have tiny or irreplaceable power reserves, communicate wirelessly, and may not possess unique identifiers. Further, they must form ad hoc relationships in a dense network with little or no preexisting infrastructure.Protocols and algorithms operating in the network must support large-scale distribution, often with only localized interactions among nodes. The network must continue operating even after significant node failure, and it must meet real-time requirements. In addition to the limitations imposed by applicationdependent deadlines, because it reflects a changing environment, the data the network gathers may intrinsically be valid for only a short time.Sensor networks may be deployed in a host of different environments, and they often figure into military scenarios. These networks may gather intelligence in battlefield conditions, track enemy troop movements, monitor a secured zone for activity, or measure damage and casualties. An airplane or artillery 1 could deploy these networks to otherwise unreachable regions.Although military applications may be the easiest to imagine, much broader opportunities await. Sensor networks could form an impromptu communications network for rescue personnel at disaster sites, or they could themselves help locate casualties. They could monitor conditions at the rim of a volcano, along an earthquake fault, or ...

Security Property Validation of the Sensor Network Encryption Protocol (SNEP)

“…A DoS attack is always considered a threat for any kind of wireless network where jamming a network with a strong signal is always possible. Especially, this might be critical in sensor networks due to its use in life-critical applications [16]. Figure 14 shows a possible DoS attack on the node to node key agreement protocol, where the intruder is masquerading as the role of the node A. Pretending to be in the role of A, the intruder triggers the key agreement protocol and, thus, forces node B and server S to generate and exchange the rest of the three messages.…”

Developing the Security Zone for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) Implementation Using Practical Security Assessment (PSA)

“…2. Denial of service (DoS) is an activity to make assets of the WBAN unavailable to its intended user [10]. In this paper DoS is an activity to make the WBAN sensors unavailable and unable to transmit its WBAN signal towards the WBAN base station.…”

Impact of High-Mobility Radio Jamming in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

“…In the positional paper, Wood [10] presented a number of different types of DOS attack, which can be used in the context of WSN. Ahmed [12] surveyed potential DOS attacks and pointed out that radio jamming on mobile machine can be an effective attack to WSN.…”

“…Denial-Of-Service (DOS) attack [10], [11], [12] is recognized as a biggest threat for the operation of mission-critical network. When a large-scale sensor network operates in a hostile environment, protection against DOS attacks becomes the most important issue for the longevity of system operation.…”