Energy Consumption During Attacks and Countermeasures in Sensor Networks

Abstract

Sensors have found several useful applications. Sensor Networks are formed with a number of small low cost sensor devices which connect wirelessly to gather data. A sensor has the ability to collect data from its surroundings and transmit to a central base station where it can be processed into meaningful information. These devices have limited power supply on deployment and cannot be replaced or renewed. Although many secure aspects of sensor networks have been proposed, little work has been reported on the impact of malicious attacks and countermeasures on the energy levels. Our study looks at some aspects of efficiency and power consumption during attacks and countermeasures. Decisions based on the data would enable the nodes in the network to take an optimum course of action to conserve power and prolong their life. The attacks and countermeasures defined for Sensor Networks were designed and simulated using Avrora - a simulator and power analysis tool. The data gathered from this setup was analyzed and compared to find the best solution in defending a network. The results showed that only some of the countermeasures applied were economical with relation to power. Results showed that countermeasures for attacks such as Hello, Selective Forward and Sinkhole consumed more power than countermeasures to other attacks. This study also shows that attacks such as Hello and Spoof are more energy intensive than attacks such as Selective Forwarding, Sinkhole, Sybil and Wormhole Attacks.