NAPLAM: a novel ledger-based algorithm for detection and mitigation of sinkhole attacks in routing protocol for low power and lossy networks-based Internet of things

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected physical objects that collect and share data over the Internet. However, routing attacks can disrupt data exchange, especially multi-node sinkhole attacks in low power and lossy IoT networks (LLNs). To support communication in LLN IoT, the IPv6-based routing protocol for LLNs (RPL) is used. Despite having several advantages, RPL also faces challenges like being vulnerable to attacks, having limited resources, compatibility, and scalability issues. Additionally, traditional security methods often do not work well for LLN-IoT devices because they lack the necessary computing power. To overcome these challenges, we have proposed a novel ledger-based framework called network and packet ledger to ascertain malicious devices using routing protocol for LLN (NAPLAM-RPL). This framework can effectively detect and mitigate multi-node sinkhole attacks in IoT networks. This paper also compares NAPLAM-RPL with similar protocols using the NetSim Simulator. The experimental analysis shows that NAPLAM-RPL improves network performance and outperforms existing methods like RF-trust, SoS-RPL, INTI, C-TRUST, and heartbeat algorithm in crucial areas, including packet delivery rate (PDR), throughput, End-to-End (E2E) delay, energy consumed, and detection accuracy.