Stochastic model for cognitive radio networks under jamming attacks and honeypot-based prevention

Abstract

Limited and dynamically available resources and "no right to protection from interference" in the open access dynamic spectrum access model bring forth a serious challenge of sustenance among the secondary networks and make them more susceptible to various spectrum etiquette attacks. Among these, the most common are jamming-based denial of service (DoS) attacks, which result in packet loss. The concept of a honeypot node or honeynode has been explored for wireless networks and has shown to be effective in attracting attacks, thus deterring the jammers from productive nodes. Yet a single dedicated honeynode, on account of its permanent idleness, is wasteful of an entire node as resource. In this paper, we seek to resolve this dilemma by dynamically selecting the honeynode for each transmission period, and we explore various methods of doing so. To begin with, we develop the first comprehensive queuing model for CRNs, which pose unique modeling challenges due to their periodic sensing and transmission cycles. We then build a simulation of CRNs under attack from jammers, introduce a series of strategies for honeynode assignment to combat these attacks, and assess the performance of each strategy. We find that the predictions of our mathematical model track closely with the results of our simulation experiments. © 2014 Springer-Verlag.