Launching a Sinkhole Attack in Wireless Sensor Networks; The Intruder Side

Abstract—One of the reasons that the research of intrusion detection in wireless sensor networks has not advanced significantly is that the concept of “intrusion” is not clear in these networks. In this paper we investigate in depth one of the most severe attacks against sensor networks, namely the sinkhole attack, and we emphasize on strategies that an attacker can follow to successfully launch such an attack. Then we propose specific detection rules that can make legitimate nodes become aware of the threat, while the attack is still taking place. Finally, we demonstrate the attack and present some implementation details that emphasize the little effort that an attacker would need to put in order to break into a realistic sensor network.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: WIMOB
• Authors: Ioannis Krontiris, Thanassis Giannetsos, Tassos Dimitriou
• Keywords: Mobile Computing, Sensor Network, Sinkhole Attack, WIMOB 2008, Wireless Sensor Networks