Shahid Abbas, Hina Nasir, Ahmad Almogren, Ayman Altameem · 5 authors
Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) Networks are used to sense different aquatic parameters like temperature, pressure, pollution, etc. They are also used to forecast the ocean’s weather to collect information about natural disasters. However, they are easily compromised by attackers due to deployment in unattended environments. To overcome these issues, security is required in IoUT networks to avoid unauthorized access and ensure network credibility. This work proposes an authentication and a malicious node detection mechanism to restrict the unauthorized external nodes from accessing the network and the internal nodes from acting maliciously, respectively. Moreover, blockchain stores the hashes of sensor nodes’ credentials during the registration process to make the system secure and traceable. Meanwhile, a weighted trust evaluation mechanism is implemented for data aggregation and detection of malicious nodes. Moreover, an additive increase multiplicative decrease algorithm puts malicious nodes in an intensive observation queue to verify the data of malicious nodes before aggregating. Moreover, weights are assigned to sensor nodes based on their behaviour. If the weight of a sensor node becomes zero, it is revoked by the blockchain. The simulation results show the efficiency of our proposed malicious node detection mechanism in terms of energy consumption and propagation delay.
Nowadays, sensor networks are one of the hottest scientific issues. A lot of research has been done to improve their efficiency. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are applied as an important and efficient technology in many industries such as military operations, security systems, intelligent transportation systems, medics, agriculture, and many others. Key agreement is a challenging point in the security of these networks. Sensor nodes connect to each other using cryptography techniques, however, use of the classic key management techniques such as key distribution center is inefficient because of resource-constrained nature of the sensor nodes. This paper proposes a hierarchical multiple key agreement scheme. In the proposed scheme, two nodes can produce multiple session keys, just with only one run of the key agreement protocol by two nodes in the hierarchical system. As well as its efficiency, this new scheme is based on identity and non-interactive protocol. Being zero-knowledge proof is another advantage of the scheme.
The classical blockchain developed for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency has evolved since its introduction more than a decade ago. Blockchain exists in different forms for different purposes and operational contexts. There has been a significant growth in the business use cases of blockchain which is based on the unique attributes of the distributed ledger technology. Blockchain provides peer-to-peer distribution of data in a traceable and decentralized architecture that attains data authentication using consensus protocols. Blockchain as a distributed ledger is the fusion of cryptography, peer-to-peer networking technology, distributed system technology, and consensus mechanism to assure information security and digital asset management. Consensus mechanisms are applied to the distributed ledger that operates in a peer-to-peer network where message transmission between peers is validated and stored across all active peers. Reaching an agreement to validate message transmission and maintaining the correctness of the state of data in a network for critical wireless sensor networks have become a necessary requirement for networks that span several subsystems covering a large operational area. Due to the resource constrained nature of the active actors of wireless sensor networks, any cryptographic solution to be adopted must be lightweight and efficient as well. This paper proposes a blockchain-based decentralized mechanism for authentication of node data for storage onto a distributed ledger. The coloured Petri net was used to model and simulate by detailing the critical attributes of the workings of the system that is based on cyber-physical IoT architecture.
Routing in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are based on multi-hop communication in which the messages pass through multiple sensor nodes, and hence routing algorithms must rely on trust relationships between neighboring nodes. The open access nature of WSNs leads to the possibility of nodes becoming compromised and consequently being turned into malicious objects. One such attack on WSNs is the Sybil attack, in which an attacker can take control of a legitimate node or enter a malicious node into the network and create fake identities. Consequently, they can change the behavior of the WSN, such as its routing schema to cause loops or wrong directions to manipulate data and consume the energy of the network, or even target cluster heads. In this paper, we present a novel technique based on IOTA Tangle, a distributed ledger technology, for the detection and prevention of Sybil attacks by protecting routing data. A transaction history on IOTA is maintained for detecting malicious node injection, and IOTA currency is used as a reputation score to prevent malicious nodes and protect the routing table. Even if an attacker gains access to the network, all routing data can be tracked in IOTA Tangle that will alert the base station about this attack. The technique has been simulated and evaluated using a proof-of-concept prototype.
Mohamed Ali, Ibrahim A. Abd El-Moghith, Mohamed N. El-Derini, Saad M. Darwish
Routing is a key function in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) since it facilitates data transfer to base stations. Routing attacks have the potential to destroy and degrade the functionality of WSNs. A trustworthy routing system is essential for routing security and WSN efficiency. Numerous methods have been implemented to build trust between routing nodes, including the use of cryptographic methods and centralized routing. Nonetheless, the majority of routing techniques are unworkable in reality due to the difficulty of properly identifying untrusted routing node activities. At the moment, there is no effective way to avoid malicious node attacks. As a consequence of these concerns, this paper proposes a trusted routing technique that combines blockchain infrastructure, deep neural networks, and Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) to improve the security and efficiency of WSN routing. To authenticate the transmission process, the suggested methodology makes use of a Proof of Authority (PoA) mechanism inside the blockchain network. The validation group required for proofing is chosen using a deep learning approach that prioritizes each node's characteristics. MDPs are then utilized to determine the suitable next-hop as a forwarding node capable of securely transmitting messages. According to testing data, our routing system outperforms current routing algorithms in a 50% malicious node routing scenario.
Abstract This paper presents HashWires, a hash-based range proof protocol that is applicable in settings for which there is a trusted third party (typically a credential issuer) that can generate commitments. We refer to these as “credential-based” range proofs (CBRPs). HashWires improves upon hashchain solutions that are typically restricted to micro-payments for small interval ranges, achieving an exponential speedup in proof generation and verification time. Under reasonable assumptions and performance considerations, a Hash-Wires proof can be as small as 305 bytes for 64-bit integers. Although CBRPs are not zero-knowledge and are inherently less flexible than general zero-knowledge range proofs, we provide a number of applications in which a credential issuer can leverage HashWires to provide range proofs for private values, without having to rely on heavyweight cryptographic tools and assumptions.
Spectrum is a kind of non-reproducible scarce strategic resource. A secure wideband spectrum sensing technology provides the possibility for the next generation of ultra-dense, ultra-large-capacity communications to realize the shared utilization of spectrum resources. However, for the open collaborative sensing in cognitive radio networks, the collusion attacks of malicious users greatly affect the accuracy of the sensing results and the security of the entire network. To address this problem, this paper proposes a weighted fusion decision algorithm by using the blockchain technology. The proposed algorithm divides the single-node reputation into active reputation and passive reputation. Through the proposed token threshold concept, the active reputation is set to increase the malicious cost of the node; the passive reputation of the node is determined according to the historical data and recent performance of the blockchain. The final node weight is obtained by considering both kinds of reputation. The proposed scheme can build a trust-free platform for the cognitive radio collaborative networks. Compared with the traditional equal-gain combination algorithm and the centralized sensing algorithm based on the beta reputation system, the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can obtain reliable sensing results with a lower number of assistants and sampling rate, and can effectively resist malicious users’ collusion attacks. Therefore, the security and the accuracy of cooperative spectrum sensing can be significantly improved in cognitive radio networks.
Known as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain has attracted much attention due to its properties such as decentralization, security, immutability and transparency, and its potential of servicing as an infrastructure for various applications. Blockchain can empower wireless networks with identity management, data integrity, access control, and high-level security. However, previous studies on blockchain-enabled wireless networks mostly focus on proposing architectures or building systems with popular blockchain protocols. Nevertheless, such existing protocols have obvious shortcomings when adopted in wireless networks where nodes may have limited physical resources, may fall short of well-established reliable channels, or may suffer from variable bandwidths impacted by environments or jamming attacks. In this paper, we propose a novel consensus protocol named Proof-of-Channel (PoC) leveraging the natural properties of wireless communications, and develop a permissioned BLOWN protocol (BLOckchain protocol for Wireless Networks) for single-hop wireless networks under an adversarial SINR model. We formalize BLOWN with the universal composition framework and prove its security properties, namely persistence and liveness, as well as its strengths in countering against adversarial jamming, double-spending, and Sybil attacks, which are also demonstrated by extensive simulation studies.
Routing is a critical process in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) since it is responsible for data transmission to base stations. Routing attacks are capable of completely destroying and degrading the function of WSNs. A trustworthy routing system is critical for ensuring routing security and WSN efficiency. Numerous studies have been conducted to increase trust between routing nodes, including cryptographic techniques, and centralized routing decisions. Nonetheless, the majority of routing methods are impractical in practice, since it is difficult to identify untrusted activities of routing nodes effectively. Meanwhile, there is no efficient method of preventing malicious node attacks. As a result of these issues, this article offers a trusted routing method that combines deep blockchain and Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) in order to enhance the routing security and efficiency of WSNs. To authenticate the process of transmitting the node, the proposed approach utilizes a Proof of Authority (PoA) method inside the blockchain network. The validation group necessary for proofing is selected using a deep learning methodology that focuses on the properties of each node. MDPs are then used to choose the appropriate next hop as a forwarding node capable of transferring messages simply and securely. According to testing data, our routing system still performs well in a 50% malicious node routing environment when compared to existing routing algorithms.
Lakshmana Kumar Ramasamy, Firoz Khan, Agbotiname Lucky Imoize, Joshua O. Ogbebor · 6 authors
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are broadly applied for various applications in tracking and surveillance due to their ease of use and other distinctive characteristics compelled by real-time cooperation among the sensor nodes. In WSNs, security is becoming a critical issue, as the techniques for malicious node detection adopt a one-time, centralized decision-making approach. With this paradigm, errors are difficult to avoid, and reproducibility and traceability are challenging. Hence, malicious node discovery technologies in conventional WSNs cannot assure traceability and fairness of the detection method. Herein, this paper discusses an in-depth survey of a blockchain-based approach for malicious node detection, an exhaustive examination of the integration of blockchain techniques with WSNs (BWSN), and insights into this novel concept. This survey discusses the architecture, sector-wise applications, and uses of BWSN. Moreover, this survey describes malicious node detection based on BWSN in two parts: 1) the BWSN architecture for detecting the malicious nodes and 2) the smart contract aspects in malicious node detection. Next, this survey explains the contributions of blockchain for WSN data management, which involves online information aggregation and may include auditing, event logs, and storage for information analysis and offline query processing. This survey first presents the conventional WSN solutions then the blockchain-based WSN solutions for data management. Additionally, this survey discusses the contributions of blockchain for WSN security management. It first examines the centralized WSN models for security problems, followed by a discussion of the blockchain-based WSN solutions for security management, such as offering access control, preserving information integrity, guaranteeing privacy, and ensuring WSNs’ node longevity.
A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed, and often public, digital ledger system consisting of records called blocks, used to record transactions across many computers so that any involved block cannot be altered retroactively, without the alteration of all subsequent blocks. In literature, Blockchain is used as a medium to achieve trust between nodes in distributed autonomous systems like the Internet of Things(IoT). In IoT, resource-scarce, economical sensing devices are deployed in large to gain accuracy. Routing Protocol for Low Power and lossy network (RPL) is defined as the de-facto standard for large-scale deployment. Due to wireless communication and resource constriend deployment, medium RPL is susceptible to many DOS attacks. This paper presents a space-efficient blockchain architecture viz. 6MID using Microchain. 6MID augments RPL to accommodate distributed ledger within resource-constrained 6LoWPAN devices and can be used to detect Blackhole attack. We also present a security analysis of the proposed framework in the context of IoT networks.
The proposed approach uses blockchain-based technology to strengthen the data security of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This paper integrates blockchain-based technology with data transfer to establish an extremely secure WSNs structure. The present wireless network is built on the architecture of the Internet of Things (IoT) and employs a blockchain-based method to make the reliability of data transmission strong. In this proposed research, many small-area wireless sensor networks establish the entire WSNs structure, and every small-area wireless sensor network has a primary data collection node called a “mobile database.” The “mobile database” node of this study uses embedded microcontrollers with an operating system, such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino Yun. This block contains the sensor data collected by itself and the hash value of the previous block. Then the hash value of its own block, which is also part of the hash calculation of the next block, was calculated through the mining calculation program. Any block in the proposed method includes the encrypted hash-value of the previous block, the current timestamp, and the transaction data. In our research content, the transaction data is represented as wireless network sensing data. Basically, the system employs the hash function for calculation using the Merkel-tree algorithm. Such programming makes the block with blockchain-based technology difficult to tamper with content. This study approach revises the blockchain-based transaction ledger to become a sensor data record. Therefore, the proposed system gathers and analyzes sensor data for more reliability in the wireless sensing network structure. Furthermore, the innovative system with blockchain-based technology can treat a private cloud-end. This paper also carries on to visualize the uploaded sensing data by the sensors and draws corresponding charts based on big data analysis. The wireless network architecture proposed in this paper is built on embedded devices, making it easy for the system to build a web server. Using Python or JavaScript programming language in the web environment is relatively more convenient for data visualization and data analysis. Finally, this study uses traditional methods and innovative methods to compare data transmission. When the system uses innovative methods with blockchain-based technology, it is almost impossible for any operator to tamper with the data transmitted by the sensor.
Abstract Embedded systems and wireless sensor networks (WSN) are found today in increasingly critical areas of applications. They have become integrated and embedded in nearly all aspects of everyday life, including manufacturing, healthcare, education, critical infrastructure, and entertainment. The number of connected devices continues to grow, and due to the insecure nature of these devices, the amount of risk continues to grow as well. These risks, however, can be mitigated with the creation and adoption of WSN security standards developed to create an environment of safety, security, and confidence in the technology. Designing the security policy for WSNs requires asking some preliminary questions. These questions are particularly important in the case of WSNs because their use is highly decentralized. Blockchain's ability on governing decentralized networks makes it especially suitable for designing a self‐managing system on WSN devices. This article proposes a routing protocol that uses Blockchain technology to offer a shared memory between the network's nodes. The simulation results have shown that this solution could be applicable and could resolve the issues cited above.
Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are non-fixed framework systems and there are such a large number of issues with them because of their dynamic topology, portable nodes, security, data transfer capacity, restricted battery strength and so forth. Trust is an association, dependability, unwavering excellence, and loyalty of the nodes in the system. A trusted routing plan is essential to guarantee the routing security and productivity of sensor systems. In perspective on these issues, this manuscript proposes a trusted routing plan utilizing block chain and building up a security model to improve the routing security and productivity for ad hoc networks. The possible routing plan is given for acquiring routing data of routing nodes on the block chain, which makes the routing data distinct and difficult to alter. The support learning model is utilized to help routing nodes progressively select increasingly trusted and productive routing connections. The proposed work introduces a Trust Based Efficient Blockchain Linked Routing Method (TbEBCLRM) for a system of trusted and untrusted nodes. The proposed method utilizes blockchain method to improve security in the ad hoc networks and to avoid malicious activities during communication is initiated. The proposed method is compared with the traditional methods and the results show that the proposed method exhibits better performance in terms of accuracy, security level, trust level and energy consumption.
Zisang Xu, Feng Li, Han Deng, Minfu Tan · 6 authors
With the rapid development of mobile networks, there are more and more application scenarios that require group communication. For example, in mobile edge computing, group communication can be used to transmit messages to all group members with minimal resources. The group key directly affects the security of the group communication. Most existing group key agreement protocols are often flawed in performance, scalability, forward or backward secrecy, or single node failure. Therefore, this paper proposes a blockchain-based authentication and dynamic group key agreement protocol. With our protocol, each group member only needs to authenticate its left neighbor once to complete the authentication, which improved authentication efficiency. In addition, our protocol guarantees the forward secrecy of group members after joining the group and the backward secrecy of group members after leaving the group. Based on blockchain technology, we solve the problem of single node failure. Furthermore, we use mathematics to prove the correctness and security of our protocol, and the comparison to related protocols shows that our protocol reduces computation and communication costs.
With the development of precise positioning technology, a growing number of location-based services (LBS) emerge. For example, visit a specific place to get the corresponding reward. This also leads to location fraud by illegal users in order to gain benefits. Thus, it is necessary to verify location certificates provided by users. However, present proof of location systems are deficient in verifying users’ location certificates while protecting users’ privacy. Users do not flexibly control their location certificates either. Based on blockchain, a kind of distributed proof of location system architecture was proposed and based on the proposed system architecture, a kind of proof of location protocol with zero-knowledge proof was proposed further. With the proposed architecture and the protocol, the proposed proof of location system allows users to freely select disclosed certificate parameters and positional accuracy according to their needs so that hierarchical location privacy protection was achieved.
Secret sharing has been study for many years and has had a number of real-word applications. There are several methods to construct the secret-sharing schemes. One of them is based on coding theory. In this work, we construct a secret-sharing scheme that realizes an access structure by using linear codes, in which any element of the access structure can reconstruct the secret key. We prove that our scheme is a multiprover zero-knowledge proof system in the random oracle model, which shows that a passive adversary gains no information about the secret key. Our scheme is also a leakage-resilient secret-sharing scheme (LRSS) in the bounded-leakage model, which remain provably secure even if the adversary learns a bounded amount of leakage information about their secret key. As an application, we propose a new group identification protocol (GID-scheme) from our LRSS. We prove that our GID-scheme is a leakage-resilient scheme. In our leakage-resilient GID-scheme, the verifier believes the validity of qualified group members and tolerates l bits of adversarial leakage in the distribution protocol, whereas for unqualified group members, the verifier cannot believe their valid identifications in the proof protocol.
As a trending and interesting research topic, in recent years, researchers have been adopting the blockchain in the wireless ad-hoc environment. Owing to its strong characteristics, such as consensus, immutability, finality, and provenance, the blockchain is utilized not only as a secure data storage for critical data but also as a platform that facilitates the trustless exchange of data between independent parties. However, the main challenge of blockchain application in an ad-hoc network is which kind of nodes should be involved in the validation process and how to adopt the heavy computational complexity of block validation appropriately while maintaining the genuine characteristics of a blockchain. In this paper, we propose the blockchain-based trust management system with a lightweight consensus algorithm in a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET). The proposed scheme provides the distributed trust framework for routing nodes in MANETs that is tamper-proof via blockchain. The optimized link state routing protocol (OLSR) is exploited as a representative protocol to embed the blockchain concept in MANETs. As a securely distributed and trusted platform, blockchain solves most of the security issues in the OLSR, in which every node is performing the security operation individually and in a repetitive manner. Additionally, using predefined principles, the routing nodes in the proposed scheme can collaborate to defend themselves from the attackers in the network. The experimental results show that the proposed consensus algorithm is suitable to be used in the resource-hungry MANET with reduced validation time and less overhead. Meanwhile, the attack detection overhead and time also decrease because the repetitivity of the process is reduced while providing a scalable and distributed trust among the routing nodes.
Mahsa Keshavarz, M. Gharib, Fatemeh Afghah, Jonathan Ashdown
Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are prone to several cyber-physical attacks, which decrease the performance of the network and may cause damage to the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or their surrounding environment. In this article, we propose UASTrustChain, a trust management framework based on Blockchain time-stamped series. We consider a system of models, consists of a number of autonomous UAVs, whose behaviors are regularly monitored by a set of distributed observers (DOs). Since most cyber attacks cause interruption in the operations of UAVs or deviation from their original path, the DOs keep track of the UAVs' behavior in terms of their trajectory, as well as the number of their successful tasks. The DOs calculate a relative trust score for each UAV and keep these scores in a transparent, reliable, secure and open ledger. This framework can detect UAVs' abnormal behavior in a real-time manner further to detect the compromised distributed observers, if any. The proposed framework could also distinguish abnormal activities due to real attacks from those caused by harsh environmental conditions. We evaluate the proposed framework for its functionality and accuracy by performing extensive simulation experiments. Our simulation results show that the proposed trust model can detect compromised distributed observers and fades their effect on the UAVs trust scores. Results further show the ability of the system in detecting malicious UAVs, which can be under various cyber-physical attacks.
Md Ashraf Uddin, Andrew Stranieri, Iqbal Gondal, Venki Balasurbramanian
The Internet of Things (IoT) has facilitated services without human intervention for a wide range of applications, including underwater monitoring, where sensors are located at various depths, and data must be transmitted to surface base stations for storage and processing. Ensuring that data transmitted across hierarchical sensor networks are kept secure and private without high computational cost remains a challenge. In this paper, we propose a multilevel sensor monitoring architecture. Our proposal includes a layer-based architecture consisting of Fog and Cloud elements to process and store and process the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) data securely with customized Blockchain technology. The secure routing of IoUT data through the hierarchical topology ensures the legitimacy of data sources. A security and performance analysis was performed to show that the architecture can collect data from IoUT devices in the monitoring region efficiently and securely.
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is used in Blockchain Technology to authenticate the entities and to ensure the integrity of the blockchain. Proper Protection of Bitcoin wallet is required for private keys, seeds and keys stored in external hardware in Blockchain infrastructure. In this paper, overview of Blockchain, analysis of existing PKI for Blockchain and key management for Blockchain wallet are discussed. To achieve the confidentiality of sensitive records over the Blockchain network, a Group Key Management scheme for secure group communication is also proposed.
A primary concern of a wireless sensor network (WSN) is to gather data from the immediate environment of it sensors while minimizing the use of limited network and computational resources. Several studies have focused on how to efficiently store and process sensed data in WSN. Generally, the appropriate method to store sensed data depends on the application for which the WSN was deployed. No matter the application, data collection appears to be a primary function of a WSN. The execution of this function must be coordinated and effective in order to provide WSN with current security standards such as privacy, data integrity and end entity authentication between communicating peers. In this paper, we propose an efficient authentication-based security scheme for data retrieval in WSN. This security scheme combines zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and pre-shared key method to provide secured and authenticated communication during data retrieval by a mobile sink in WSN. The security mechanism proposed works on a clustered network topology with an index-based data dissemination scheme. The network employs the concept of Connected Dominating Set (CDS) to form storage and index node sets. Upon a successful peer authentication, the index, located on the index node, is used for efficient retrieval of data. The scheme also provides end-to-end confidentiality given that data is being encrypted before transferred and can be decrypted only at the base station. Security and performance analysis of the proposed scheme show that it addresses all of the aforementioned issues while also satisfying zero-knowledge proofs properties. It is also suitable for devices with limited computational resources as the network can fulfil the purpose of data collection and can be deployed in large-scale wireless sensor networks.