Sensor Networks Attacks Classifications and Mitigation

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are exposed to many security attacks, and it can be easily compromised. One of the main reasons for these vulnerabilities is the deployment nature, where sensor nodes are deployed without physical guarding duty. That makes the network susceptible to physical attacks. The communication nature between sensor nodes is another reason, where intruders can easily send/receive information if they are located in the network communication range. In this paper, most of the possible WSN attacks are discussed, different security services expected in WSN are explained, and trust-based solutions proposed in the literature are listed. Moreover, the state-of-the-art of the attacks’ mitigation and avoidance techniques are presented. Besides, this paper is enriched with a new classification of the WSNs attacks regarding attacks’ characteristics. It will be beneficial to researchers in the field of WSNs security if they can distinguish between different attacks that have common characteristics.

An Enhanced Trust Mechanism with Consensus-Based False Information Filtering Algorithm against Bad-Mouthing Attacks and False-Praise Attacks in WSNs

“…However, it is possible for these intermediate nodes to become inside attackers (or traitors) due to various reasons (e.g., hacking by adversaries) [7,9]. Moreover, what makes this problem more serious is that sensors may not have the same advanced heavy security mechanisms used in other networks due to their unique limitations, as mentioned above.…”

“…For this reason, various inside attack problems in WSNs, such as attack models and defense mechanisms have been actively discussed and studied [17,19,20,22], and also trust mechanisms have been researched as promising defense mechanisms against inside attackers in WSNs [12,18,23]. However, it is possible for these intermediate nodes to become inside attackers (or traitors) due to various reasons (e.g., hacking by adversaries) [7,9]. Moreover, what makes this problem more serious is that sensors may not have the same advanced heavy security mechanisms used in other networks due to their unique limitations, as mentioned above.…”

“…Due to many WSN characteristics, such as it is a wireless medium and the limited resources of sensors (low battery, storage, and computing speed), security is one of the most important design factors of WSNs. WSNs are considered more unsafe than other types of networks, and are especially vulnerable to insider threats [7][8][9]. In addition, energy-efficiency is another critical design factor to maximize the lifetime of WSNs [10,11].…”

“…However, intelligent inside attackers in WSNs may be able to discover security vulnerabilities in trust mechanisms by investigating their operations, and thus, they can avoid the detection of trust mechanisms. Bad-mouthing attacks and false-praise attacks are well-known as intelligent insider attacks [9,15,16]. In these attacks, attackers provide an evaluating sensor with false information to hamper accurate trust evaluation.…”

Blockchain of Things (BCoT): The Fusion of Blockchain and IoT Technologies

“…Since IoT is built on the foundation laid by wireless sensor network (WSN) (Daia, Ramadan, & Fayek, 2018), characteristically each node of an IoT ecosystem is considered to be prone to attacks such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) (Chaudhry, Saleem, Haskell-Dowland, & Miraz, 2018;Onik, Al-Zaben, Hoo, & Kim, 2018) and if compromised may serve as a point of failure. IoT networks are mostly leveraged on cloud environment.…”