Mitigating attacks against virtual coordinate based routing in wireless sensor networks

ABSTRACT

Virtual coordinate system (VCS) based routing provides a practical, efficient and scalable means for point-to-point routing in wireless sensor networks. Several VCS-based routing protocols have been proposed in the last few years, all assuming that nodes behave correctly. However, many applications require deploying sensor networks in adversarial environments, making VCS-based routing protocols vulnerable to numerous attacks.

In this paper, we study the security of VCS-based routing protocols. We first identify novel attacks targeting the underlying virtual coordinate system. The attacks can be mounted with little resource, yet are epidemic in nature and highly destructive to system performance. We then propose lightweight defense mechanisms against each of the identified attacks. Finally, we evaluate experimentally the impact of the attacks and the effectiveness of our defense mechanisms using a well-known VCS-based routing protocol, BVR.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.m Miscellaneous

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.2 Network Protocols
          Subjects: Routing protocols

General Terms:
Security

Keywords:
beacon vector routing, routing, secure beacon vector routing, security, sensor network routing, virtual coordinate system