Recovering from the selective forwarding attack in WSNs - enhancing the recovery benefits of blacklisting and rerouting using directional antennas

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) face a number of security challenges that can compromise their operation. A typical security attack that can be launched by an adversary, in order to affect the network’s communication, is the selective forwarding attack. If compromisation occurs, it is essential to recover the network to a stable state. In the context of mission-critical WSNs the challenge is not just to recover from compromisation but it is vital to restore an enhanced network operation in order to support a reliable decision-making. Sensor nodes usually address the selective forwarding attack by deploying blacklisting and rerouting. These countermeasures have been proposed in the context of omni-directional networks. This research work investigates the utilization of directional antennas in WSNs in order to increase the recovery benefits gained by the blacklisting and rerouting countermeasures in terms of reliability, survivability and responsiveness, attributes that are vital for the operation of mission-critical applications.