Using trust to secure geographic and energy aware routing against multiple attacks

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Security
• Wireless Sensor Networks

Background:

• Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are vulnerable to various security threats affecting geographic routing.
• Attacks include false routing information, selective forwarding, and Sybil attacks, compromising network integrity.
• Existing security models often overlook the resource constraints of sensor nodes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel trust-based defending model for WSNs against multiple geographic routing attacks.
• To enhance the security and efficiency of WSNs while considering node resource limitations.
• To improve packet delivery ratio and network lifetime under attack scenarios.

Main Methods:

• A trust-based defending model utilizing the Dirichlet distribution function to calculate trust values based on packet acknowledgements.
• Integration of trust values with geographic and energy-aware routing costs for next-hop selection.
• Dynamic determination of initial trust, restriction of service requests for malicious nodes, and trust evolution to mitigate mobility impacts.

Main Results:

• The proposed model effectively defends against multiple attacks, including false routing information, selective forwarding, and Sybil attacks.
• Simulation results demonstrate superior performance in packet delivery ratio compared to existing models.
• The model significantly extends network lifetime by optimizing routing decisions and managing node trust.

Conclusions:

• The developed trust-based model offers a robust solution for securing geographic routing in resource-constrained WSNs.
• It provides a practical approach to mitigate diverse security threats without excessive energy consumption.
• The model's effectiveness in enhancing both security and network longevity is validated through simulations.