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A framework for MAC protocol misbehavior detection in wireless networks

Published: 02 September 2005 Publication History

Abstract

The pervasiveness of wireless devices and the architectural organization of wireless networks in distributed communities, where no notion of trust can be assumed, are the main reasons for the growing interest in the issue of compliance to protocol rules. Reliable and timely detection of deviation from legitimate protocol operation is recognized as a prerequisite for ensuring efficient and fair use of network resources and minimizing performance losses. Nevertheless, the random nature of protocol operation together with the inherent difficulty of monitoring in the open and highly volatile wireless medium poses significant challenges. In this paper, we consider the fundamental problem of detection of node misbehavior at the MAC layer. Starting from a model where the behavior of a node is observable, we cast the problem within a minimax robust detection framework, with the objective to provide a detection rule of optimum performance for the worst-case attack. The performance is measured in terms of required number of observations in order to derive a decision. This framework is meaningful for studying misbehavior because it captures the presence of uncertainty of attacks and concentrates on the attacks that are most significant in terms of incurred performance losses. It also refers to the case of an intelligent attacker that can adapt its policy to avoid being detected. Although the basic model does not include interference, we show that our ideas can be extended to the case where observations are hindered by interference due to concurrent transmissions. We also present some hints for the problem of notifying the rest of the network about a misbehavior event. Our work provides interesting insights and performance bounds and serves as a prelude to a future study that would capture more composite instances of the problem.

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  • (2023)A new predictive approach for the MAC layer misbehavior in IEEE 802.11 networksInternational Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications10.1108/IJPCC-08-2022-030320:2(240-261)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2023
  • (2021) CW min Estimation and Collision Identification in Wi-Fi Systems 2021 IEEE 18th International Conference on Mobile Ad Hoc and Smart Systems (MASS)10.1109/MASS52906.2021.00067(490-498)Online publication date: Oct-2021
  • (2020)Detection of Misconfigured BYOD Devices in Wi-Fi NetworksApplied Sciences10.3390/app1020720310:20(7203)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    WiSe '05: Proceedings of the 4th ACM workshop on Wireless security
    September 2005
    116 pages
    ISBN:1595931422
    DOI:10.1145/1080793
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    Publication History

    Published: 02 September 2005

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    Author Tags

    1. MAC layer
    2. minmax robust detection
    3. protocol misbehavior
    4. wireless networks

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    View all
    • (2023)A new predictive approach for the MAC layer misbehavior in IEEE 802.11 networksInternational Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications10.1108/IJPCC-08-2022-030320:2(240-261)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2023
    • (2021) CW min Estimation and Collision Identification in Wi-Fi Systems 2021 IEEE 18th International Conference on Mobile Ad Hoc and Smart Systems (MASS)10.1109/MASS52906.2021.00067(490-498)Online publication date: Oct-2021
    • (2020)Detection of Misconfigured BYOD Devices in Wi-Fi NetworksApplied Sciences10.3390/app1020720310:20(7203)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
    • (2020)Formal Modeling and Analysis of Multi-Rogue Backoff Manipulation Attacks in Unlicensed Networks2020 16th International Conference on the Design of Reliable Communication Networks DRCN 202010.1109/DRCN48652.2020.1570610618(1-7)Online publication date: Mar-2020
    • (2018)Misbehavior Detection in Industrial Wireless NetworksMobile Networks and Applications10.1007/s11036-018-1040-023:5(1330-1336)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2018
    • (2018)Challenges of Misbehavior Detection in Industrial Wireless NetworksAd Hoc Networks10.1007/978-3-319-74439-1_4(37-46)Online publication date: 20-Jan-2018
    • (2017)Boycott based enhanced correction scheme for mac layer misbehavior in wireless networksProcedia Computer Science10.1016/j.procs.2017.08.364113(248-252)Online publication date: 2017
    • (2016)Denial of service attack on low rate wireless personal area networks2016 Twenty Second National Conference on Communication (NCC)10.1109/NCC.2016.7561148(1-6)Online publication date: Mar-2016
    • (2016)Backslide Based Correction for MAC Layer Misbehavior in Wireless NetworksEurope and MENA Cooperation Advances in Information and Communication Technologies10.1007/978-3-319-46568-5_37(365-371)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2016
    • (2015)MAC-Layer Selfish Misbehavior in IEEE 802.11 Ad Hoc Networks: Detection and DefenseIEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing10.1109/TMC.2014.234856014:6(1203-1217)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2015
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