T_CAFE: A Trust based Security approach for Opportunistic IoT

Abstract

Internet of things (IoT) is a revolution of the internet where a group of computing devices, sensors, machines or people, having unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over the network without human intervention, are interconnected. Opportunistic networks (OppNets) are a type of disruption-tolerant networks, where network topology is not fixed and the devices are connected intermittently. Opportunistic IOT (OppIoT) is a blend of OppNets and IoT networks, where the data are shared among IoT devices and human communities exploiting the opportunistic contact nature of humans. The data is usually transmitted in a broadcast manner, exposing it to all the members of the network. Thus, securing the data transmitted is of utmost importance in OppIoT. This article proposes a trust-based schemE (called T_CAFE ) for securing the network against several attacks like sybil, bad mouthing, good mouthing, black hole and packet fabrication attacks. Using the opportunistic network environment simulator for performing simulations, it is found that the proposed T_CAFE protocol enhances the network security and outperforms routing protocols such as SHBPR, RSASec and ATDTN in terms of legitimate packet delivery, higher probability of message delivery, lower count of dropped messages and lower value of latency in packet delivery.