DBoTPM: A Deep Neural Network-Based Botnet Prediction Model

Abstract

Internet of things (IoT) devices’ evolution and growth have boosted system efficiency, reduced human labour, and improved operational efficiency; however, IoT devices pose substantial security and privacy risks, making them highly vulnerable to botnet attacks. Botnet attacks are capable of degrading the performance of an IoT system in a way that makes it difficult for IoT network users to identify them. Earlier studies mainly focused on the detection of IoT botnets, and there was a gap in predicting the botnet attack due to their complex behaviour, repetitive nature, uncertainty, and almost invisible presence in the compromised system. Based on the gaps, it is highly required to develop efficient and stable AI models that can reliably predict botnet attacks. The current study developed and implemented DBoTPM, a novel deep-neural-network-based model for botnet prediction. The DBoTPM was optimized for performance and less computational overhead by utilizing rigorous hyperparameter tuning. The consequences of overfitting and underfitting were mitigated through dropouts. The evaluation of the DBoTPM demonstrated that it is one of the most accurate and efficient models for botnet prediction. This investigation is unique in that it makes use of two real datasets to detect and predict botnet attacks with efficient performance and faster response. The results achieved through the DBoTPM model were assessed against prior research and found to be highly effective at predicting botnet attacks with a real dataset.