Malicious Nodes Research Articles

Malicious node detection using SVM and secured data storage using blockchain in WSN

Malicious node detection using SVM and secured data storage using blockchain in WSN

Deep Artificial Immune System With Malicious Node Detection and Secure Routing Protocol in MANET

ABSTRACTIn the context of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), the dynamic and decentralized topology poses significant challenges like unreliable connectivity, limited bandwidth, node mobility, and vulnerability to security threats from malicious nodes. Ensuring secure and energy‐efficient data transmission in such environments is crucial for mission‐critical applications. This research addresses these pressing challenges by introducing a robust routing protocol capable of detecting and mitigating malicious nodes, thereby enhancing MANET's Quality of Service (QoS). The proposed approach, the Dendritic Cell with Adaptive Trust Q‐learning Protocol (dDC‐ATQP), integrates several innovative techniques to tackle these issues. Firstly, the trust evaluation mechanism assesses the behavior of nodes to identify potential malicious actors, mitigating the effect of malicious nodes on system execution. Secondly, the adaptive routing strategy optimizes data transmission paths based on real‐time network conditions, reducing latency and packet loss. To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, extensive simulations are conducted using a range of performance metrics. The results demonstrate significant improvements over existing methods, including a throughput increase of (79.2% in 50 s), lower end‐to‐end‐delay (0.075 s for 20 nodes), energy consumption of (38.55/J), higher packet delivery ratio (98% for 20 nodes), reduced packet loss ratio (5% for 100 nodes), enhanced security (80% for 70 nodes).

IPv6 addressing strategy with improved secure duplicate address detection to overcome denial of service and reconnaissance attacks

With technology development, the growing self-communicating devices in IoT networks require specific naming and identification, mainly provided by IPv6 addresses. The IPv6 address in the IoT network is generated by using the stateless auto address configuration (SLAAC) mechanism, and its uniqueness is ensured by the DAD protocol. Recent research suggests that IPv6 deployment can be a risky decision due to the existing SLAAC-based addressing scheme and the DAD protocol being prone to reconnaissance and denial of service (DoS) attacks. This research paper proposes a new IPv6 generation scheme with an improved secure DAD mechanism to address these problems. The proposed addressing scheme generates IPv6 addresses by taking a hybrid approach based on vendor id of medium access control (MAC) address, physical location, and arbitrary random numbers, which mitigates reconnaissance attacks by malicious nodes. To prevent the DAD process from DoS attacks, hybrid values of interface identifier (IID) are multicast instead of actual values. The proposed scheme is evaluated under reconnaissance and DoS attacks in the presence of malicious nodes. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively mitigates reconnaissance and DoS attacks, outperforming the EUI-64 and SEUI-64 schemes in terms of address success rate (ASR), energy consumption, and communication overhead. Specifically, the proposed method significantly reduces the average probing rate for scanning the existence of an IPv6 address, with only a 1% probing rate compared to SEUI-64’s 5% and EUI-64’s 100%. Furthermore, the additional communication overhead introduced by the proposed method is less than 13% and 11% compared to EUI-64 and SEUI-64, respectively. Additionally, the energy consumption required to assign an IPv6 address using the proposed method is lower by 12% and 5% when compared to EUI-64 and SEUI-64, respectively. These findings highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing security and optimizing resource utilization in IPv6 addressing.

Backdoor Attacks in Peer-to-Peer Federated Learning

Most machine learning applications rely on centralized learning processes, opening up the risk of exposure of their training datasets. While federated learning (FL) mitigates to some extent these privacy risks, it relies on a trusted aggregation server for training a shared global model. Recently, new distributed learning architectures based on Peer-to-Peer Federated Learning (P2PFL) offer advantages in terms of both privacy and reliability. Still, their resilience to poisoning attacks during training has not been investigated. In this paper, we propose new backdoor attacks for P2PFL that leverage structural graph properties to select the malicious nodes, and achieve high attack success, while remaining stealthy. We evaluate our attacks under various realistic conditions, including multiple graph topologies, limited adversarial visibility of the network, and clients with non-IID data. Finally, we show the limitations of existing defenses adapted from FL and design a new defense that successfully mitigates the backdoor attacks, without an impact on model accuracy.

Denial-of-service attack (BH and PDA) effect analysis on AODV Routing Protocol with Random Mobility

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) has received significant attention in the research domain of routing protocol as they provide security to transmit the data at the destination node. Mobile ad hoc networks do not have a fixed infrastructure, and nodes have random mobility due to this network topology changing dynamically and it vulnerable to external threats. Block hole and packet dropping are well-known network layer Denial of service attacks. during the route, discovery phase malicious nodes work normally and it became the shortest path to route the data and after that, it will drop all the data instead of transferring the data to the destination and in case of the packet dropping attack node drop the packet due to the elfishness of a node, Lack of energy resources, Bandwidth consumed by the attacker node, Overflow of the transmission queue, Misbehavior of a malicious node, it will drop the packet in the network. In this paper, we analyze the impact of both attacks on the AODV routing protocol in the random mobility environments with the different simulation parameters. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52783/pst.922

Retraction Note: Emerging network communication for malicious node detection in wireless multimedia sensor networks

Retraction Note: Emerging network communication for malicious node detection in wireless multimedia sensor networks

Design of an Efficient QOS Aware Trust-Based Security Model with Bioinspired Sidechains for Healthcare Deployments

Increased adoption of blockchain technology in healthcare systems has paved the way for transparent and secure data management. However, the inherent difficulties of scalability, performance, and security in blockchain networks necessitate the development of efficient models to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) and reliability. In this paper, we propose a novel QoS-aware trust-based security model for healthcare blockchain deployments that addresses these challenges by taking temporal energy consumption, temporal delay, temporal throughput, and temporal Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) levels into account when selecting miner nodes. For efficient miner node selection, our model employs trust-based analysis. While for the formation of sidechains an efficient Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) Model is used, which is a metaheuristic technique inspired by hunting behaviour of Wolves in real-time scenarios. Effectively balancing the trade-off between exploration and exploitation, the GWO algorithm enables the selection of optimal miner nodes that meet the desired QoS requirements. By incorporating temporal metrics, our model adapts dynamically to changing network conditions, ensuring optimal resource utilization and enhanced network performance levels. To assess the efficacy of our proposed model, we ran extensive simulations and compared its performance to that of existing sidechaining models. The outcomes demonstrate significant enhancements in multiple aspects. In comparison to state-of-the-art sidechaining models, our model achieves an impressive 8.5% reduction in delay, 3.9% reduction in energy consumption, 4.5% increase in throughput, and 2.5% improvement in PDR levels. These enhancements demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency of our healthcare blockchain deployment models. The proposed model has applications in a variety of real-time healthcare scenarios. It can be used in electronic health record (EHR) systems where data integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility are crucial. By ensuring QoS-aware miner node selection, our model contributes to dependable and efficient data management, allowing for streamlined access to patient records while maintaining the necessary security standards. Moreover, the trust-based approach of our model improves the overall security of healthcare blockchain deployments. Our model reduces the risks associated with malicious or compromised miner nodes by incorporating trustworthiness metrics such as reputation and behavior analysis. This is especially important in the healthcare industry, where the sensitive nature of patient data necessitates stringent security measures.

Multi Attribute Trust Aware Routing for Adversary Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

Security attacks has become major obstacles in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Trust Aware Routing is second line of defense. With an aim to improve on the existing routing mechanisms, in this paper, we propose Interactive, Onlooker and Capability Trust Aware Routing (IOC-TAR), a multi-trust attribute framework for trust management in WSNs. IOC-TAR employs three trust features to establish a trustworthy relationship between sensor nodes for their cooperation. Interactive trust uses communication interactions, onlooker trust uses neighbor node’s opinions and capability trust uses stability and fault tolerance for trust assessment. For, each node, one composite trust factor is formulated and decides its trustworthiness. Extensive simulation experiments are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of proposed IOC-TAR in the identification of malicious nodes and the provision of attack resilience. The results declare that the IOC-TAR enhances the attack resilience by improving Malicious Detection rate and reducing False Positive Rate.

Secure and efficient trust enabled routing in mobile ad hoc network using game theory and grey wolf optimisation techniques

AbstractMobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are crucial wireless networks for military, corporate, and emergency use, yet they are vulnerable to disruptions from malicious nodes. The presence of malicious nodes can lead to message transmission and routing disorganisation, and network performance is effectively compromised. Game theory‐based fuzzy secure clustering (GTFSC) improves performance metrics in low‐scale and high‐scale networks. This protocol's novel ability to dynamically scale performance measures as nodes expand improves efficiency and adaptability. While improving performance metrics, the proposed algorithm also efficiently identifies malicious nodes and re‐routes the transmission, excluding the found malicious nodes. For any MANET system, secure and successful data transmission is paramount. The proposed protocol integrates various algorithms to fulfil its aim of customised EGT, GWO, and fuzzy clustering. Black hole attacks, grey hole attacks, Sybil attacks, and data tampering attacks are all considered to provide comprehensive attacks on MANET. Every node is assigned trust values, which get updated on data transmission. Fuzzy Clustering is employed to identify malicious nodes. Evolutionary Game Theory (EGT) optimises network organisation by designating cluster heads and clusters as nodes. Additionally, the proposed protocol leverages the Grey Wolf Optimisation Routing Algorithm (GWO), which establishes efficient routes from the source to the sink node. The analysis result shows maximum performance with a packet delivery ratio of around 98%, throughput of 90% end‐to‐end delay reduced by 15%, and energy consumption reduced by 18%, respectively, compared to an existing protocol.

New Trust Based Smart Data Forwarding Mechanism in Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network

Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN) is the growing field with a considerable possibility to handle future wireless application’s requirements. Using vehicles for the data communication purpose can be contemplated as a substitute for the wired and wireless systems. This paper proposes a trust-based data forwarding mechanism for Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN). Data forwarding in VDTN requires every vehicular or stationary node to participate in data forwarding. But some time malicious nodes show non-cooperative behaviour in data forwarding. Therefore, malicious nodes must be identified specifically to accelerate the data forwarding. A threshold based social skeleton membership process along with new trust-based data forwarding mechanism is proposed in this paper. We reveal that the social skeleton members perform better in data forwarding in terms of data delivery ratio, data delay and data overhead. Simulation results demonstrate that the trust-based data forwarding improves the data delivery ratio with trust-based data forwarding approach. After simulation a comparative analysis of two different scenarios is presented with epidemic routing, prophet routing and spray and wait routing.

A robust detection scheme against selective forwarding attacks in wireless sensor networks under variable harsh environments

Event-driven wireless sensor networks (EWSNs) often operate in harsh environments and are susceptible to selective forwarding attacks, where malicious nodes selectively drop packets. These attacks are difficult to detect due to similarities with normal node behavior under adverse conditions. To address this, we propose a detection scheme combining Variable Autoencoder (VAE) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) with an Autoencoder (AE). The scheme extracts features from the node's single round forwarding rate (SFR), with VAE generating latent variables and GMM clustering them to differentiate behaviors. The AE model, trained on data representing normal behavior, uses reconstruction error to identify malicious nodes. Simulation results show that our scheme improves network throughput and achieves low False Detection Rate (FDR) and Missed Detection Rate (MDR), with both rates as low as 0.5% in normal conditions and below 2% in mobile harsh environments. With a computational complexity of O(n), this method is suitable for resource-constrained environments, demonstrating superior robustness compared to existing approaches.

Trust-aware and improved density peaks clustering algorithm for fast and secure models in wireless sensor networks

Many trust-based models for wireless sensor networks do not account for trust attacks, which are destructive phenomena that undermine the security and reliability of these models. Therefore, a trust-based fast security model fused with an improved density peaks clustering algorithm (TFSM-DPC) is proposed to quickly identify trust attacks in this paper. First, when calculating direct trust values, TFSM-DPC designs the adaptive penalty factors based on the state of received and sent packets and behaviors, and introduces the volatilization factors to reduce the effect of historical trust values. Second, TFSM-DPC improved density peaks clustering (DPC) algorithm to evaluate the trustworthiness of each recommendation value, thus filtering malicious recommendations before calculating the indirect trust values. Moreover, to filter two types of recommendations, the improved DPC algorithm incorporates artificial benchmark data along with trust values recommended by neighbors as input data. Finally, based on the relationship between direct trust and indirect trust, a secure formula for calculate the comprehensive trust is designed. Therefore, the proposed TFSM-DPC can improve the accuracy of trust evaluation and speed up the identification of malicious nodes. Simulation results show that TFSM-DPC can effectively identify on-off, bad-mouth and collusion attacks, and improve the speed of excluding malicious nodes from the network, compared to other trust-based algorithms.

Provenance-based APT campaigns detection via masked graph representation learning

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are well-planned, persistent, and highly stealthy cyberattacks designed to steal confidential information or disrupt specific target systems. Recent studies have used system audit logs to construct provenance graphs that describe system interactions to detect potentially malicious activities. Although they are effective, they still suffer from problems such as the need for a priori knowledge, lack of attack data, and high computational overhead that limit their application. In this paper, we propose a self-supervised learning-based APT detection model, APT-MGL, which learns the embedded representations of nodes through a graph mask self-encoder and transforms the detection problem into an outlier detection problem for malicious nodes. APT-MGL characterizes the behavior of nodes based on node type, action, and interaction frequency, and fuses the features through a multi-head self-attention mechanism. Then the node embedding is obtained by combining graph features and structural information using masked graph representation learning. Finally, the unsupervised outlier detection method is used to analyze the computed embeddings and obtain the final detection results. The experimental results show that APT-MGL outperforms existing monitoring models and achieves a small overhead.

SCVAN- BKM: Swarm clustering for vehicular ad hoc network with a secure blockchain-based key management scheme

The advancements in telematics and communication technology for automobiles have contributed to the development of Vehicular ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). These networks serve as the foundation for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Communication across various VANET entities is challenging due to the open communication environment and the highly dynamic nature of VANETs. One of the major challenges in VANETs is ensuring stable and secure transmission. To address these factors, several studies have been conducted. The article discusses a clustering algorithm for VANETs that leverages SCVAN-DPSO to create stable clusters and provide secure communication for mitigating malicious nodes. Additionally, Hyperelliptic Curve Cryptography (HECC) with signcryption in blockchain is proposed. This algorithm is designed to identify and mitigate malicious nodes, ensuring robust and secure communication within the network. To verify vehicles in VANETs, this study also suggests a safe and reliable key management method that generates and stores cryptographic keys using blockchain’s distributed ledger technology. By doing so, the risk of rogue nodes is reduced, and a safe, stable connection between vehicles is guaranteed. This work has been implemented using NS 3.34 simulation with the SUMO real-time traffic mobility simulator, and its performance has been evaluated. The proposed algorithm SCVAN-BKM provides a 99.6 % packet delivery ratio for 20 nodes, 0.4 % packet loss, end-to-end delay of 32.65 ms, throughput of 9.522 Mbps, and a cluster lifetime of 105 s. As the number of nodes increases in the communication zone, stable communication is maintained due to the clustering algorithm used in the proposed approach, as cluster formation supports stability in the high-mobility nature of vehicles, while secure communication is ensured using blockchain technology. The findings demonstrate that our approach is more effective and yields better outcomes than existing systems.

SROR: A Secure and Reliable Opportunistic Routing for VANETs

In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), high mobility of vehicles issues a huge challenge to the reliability and security of transmitting packets. Therefore, a Secure and Reliable Opportunistic Routing (SROR) is proposed in this paper. During construction of Candidate Forwarding Nodes (CFNs) set, the relative velocity, connectivity probability, and packet forwarding ratio are taken into consideration. The aim of SROR is to maximally improve the packet delivery ratio as well as reduce the end-to-end delay. The selection of a relay node from CFNs is formalized as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) optimization. The SROR algorithm extracts useful knowledge from historical behavior of nodes by interacting with the environment. This useful knowledge are utilized to select the relay node as well as to prevent the malicious nodes from forwarding packets. In addition, the influence of different learning rate and exploratory factor policy on rewards of agents are analyzed. The experimental results show that the performance of SROR outperforms the benchmarks in terms of the packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and attack success ratio. As vehicle density ranges from 10 to 50 and percentage of malicious vehicles is fixed at 10%, the average of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and attack success ratio are 0.82, 0.26s, and 0.37, respectively, outperforming benchmark protocols.

A Framework for Mitigating Gray Hole Attack On Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

posing a significant challenge to network performance and reliability. In a gray hole attack, a malicious node selectively drops packets while forwarding others, leading to increased packet loss and latency. This paper presents a novel Gray Hole Prevention algorithm designed to detect and mitigate the effects of such attacks, thereby enhancing the security and efficiency of MANETs. The proposed algorithm integrates existing techniques, specifically the Secure Detection Prevention and Elimination Gray Hole (SDPEGH) approach, with proactive measures to improve detection accuracy and minimize the risk of blacklisting legitimate nodes. Extensive simulations were conducted using the NS-2 simulation tool, comparing the performance of the proposed algorithm against traditional methods. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in network performance, with the GRAY-HP algorithm achieving a PDR of 92%, compared to 78% for the SDPEGH algorithm, representing an increase of 18%. Additionally, the throughput improved by 25%, reaching 85 kbps, while the energy consumption was reduced by 15%, indicating a more efficient use of resources. The routing overhead was also minimized by 20%, showcasing the algorithm's effectiveness in maintaining network stability. This research contributes to the field of network security by providing a robust solution to gray hole attacks, thereby enhancing the reliability and performance of MANETs. The findings underscore the importance of proactive security measures in dynamic and decentralized environments, paving the way for future advancements in secure communication protocols for mobile networks.

A Robust Routing Protocol in Cognitive Unmanned Aerial Vehicular Networks.

The adoption of UAVs in defence and civilian sectors necessitates robust communication networks. This paper presents a routing protocol for Cognitive Radio Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (CR-UAVs) in Flying Ad-hoc Networks (FANETs). The protocol is engineered to optimize route selection by considering crucial parameters such as distance, speed, link quality, and energy consumption. A standout feature is the introduction of the Central Node Resolution Factor (CNRF), which enhances routing decisions. Leveraging the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) enables accurate distance estimation, crucial for effective routing. Moreover, predictive algorithms are integrated to tackle the challenges posed by high mobility scenarios. Security measures include the identification of malicious nodes, while the protocol ensures resilience by managing multiple routes. Furthermore, it addresses route maintenance and handles link failures efficiently, cluster formation, and re-clustering with joining and leaving new nodes along with the predictive algorithm. Simulation results showcase the protocol's self-comparison under different packet sizes, particularly in terms of end-to-end delay, throughput, packet delivery ratio, and normalized routing load. However, superior performance compared to existing methods, particularly in terms of throughput and packet transmission delay, underscoring its potential for widespread adoption in both defence and civilian UAV applications.

Dual-stage machine learning approach for advanced malicious node detection in WSNs

Within wireless sensor networks (WSNs), a multitude of vulnerabilities can arise, particularly those originating from malicious nodes (MNs), which lead to compromised data integrity, network stability, and critical application reliability. Although security and energy efficiency remain critical, current MN detection methods are resource-intensive and time-consuming, rendering them unsuitable for constrained WSNs. Although machine learning-based methods excel at detecting MNs, they often incur significant time overhead owing to extensive data transmission and coordination, leading to increased latency and energy consumption within the network. This study introduces DSMND, a novel dual-stage MN detection scheme that harnesses machine learning to enhance MN identification in WSNs. The initial stage uses dynamic threshold detection and decision-tree algorithms at the cluster head (CH) level. This adaptive detection process optimizes CH resource levels, feature counts, and threshold values for efficient MN identification. When thresholds are exceeded, the second stage activates on the server side, employing an advanced MN detection model that seamlessly integrates a hybrid convolutional neural network and a random forest classifier to boost detection accuracy. Leveraging SensorNetGuard, a dataset with diverse node and network features, further enhances reliability. Extensive analysis shows that our scheme achieves up to 99.5 % detection accuracy at the CH level and nearly 100 % at the server side. The average execution time is 124.63 ms, making it 97 % faster than conventional methods. Additionally, DSMND reduces CH power consumption by up to 70 % and extends network lifetime by 2.7 times compared to existing methods. These results confirm the effectiveness of our approach for real-time detection and mitigation of MNs within WSNs.

Distributed information-theoretical secure protocols for quantum key distribution networks against malicious nodes

Quantum key distribution (QKD) networks are expected to enable information-theoretical secure (ITS) communication over a large-scale network. Most research on relay-based QKD networks assumes all relays or nodes are completely trustworthy. However, this assumption is unreasonable because the malicious behavior of even a single node can undermine the security of the entire network. Currently, there is no method to directly distinguish between honest nodes and malicious nodes. Moreover, the status of nodes as honest or malicious can be dynamic. Therefore, a solution is needed that can withstand a certain proportion of malicious nodes in QKD networks. We propose a novel paradigm, inspired by distributed systems, to address the active and passive attacks by collaborating with malicious nodes in QKD networks. First, regarding security, we propose the ITS distributed authentication scheme, which additionally ensures two crucial security properties to QKD networks: identity unforgeability and non-repudiation. Second, concerning correctness, we propose an ITS fault-tolerant consensus scheme based on our ITS distributed authentication to ensure global consistency. This enables participating nodes to collaborate correctly and complete end-to-end key distribution within a constant number of communication rounds. Through our simulation, we have shown that our scheme exhibits a significantly lower growth trend in key consumption compared to the original end-to-end pre-shared keys scheme. For instance, in larger networks, such as when the number of nodes is 80, our scheme’s key consumption is only 13.1% of the pre-shared keys scheme.

Detecting selective forwarding attacks on cloud

—The Internet of Things (IoT) technology is now ubiquitous in both daily life and industrial production. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a crucial part of the IoT infrastructure, providing the underlying network. However, WSNs are vulnerable to attacks due to challenging environmental conditions and their open communication nature. One particularly elusive threat is the selective forwarding attack, where malicious nodes intentionally drop parts or all of the received data packets, causing information loss and delays. This paper addresses the transition from the limited resources of central processing units (CPUs) to the expansive capabilities of cloud platforms within the IoT framework. By harnessing the robust computing power of cloud platforms, we investigate the effectiveness of the Time Convolution Network (TCN) time series prediction algorithm in detecting malicious nodes. Comparative results demonstrate that our proposed scheme achieves a Miss Detection Rate (MDR) of below 1% and a False Detection Rate (FDR) of less than 5%.