Mitigating Energy Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Deception: A Game Theoretic Approach

Ines Carole Kombou Sihomnou, Abderrahim Benslimane, Ahmed H. Anwar, Gabriel Deugoue, Charles A. Kamhoua, Chakchai So-In

Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of devices communicating information wirelessly from a monitored field. Sensors are designed with limited energy resources pushing application designers to optimize energy consumption. It is common practice in WSNs to organize nodes in clusters with a device (designed as a cluster head) with superior energy resources. However, this clustered architecture exposes vulnerabilities, particularly to energy depletion attacks targeting the cluster head. Energy depletion attacks pose a significant threat to sensor node survival. To overcome such attacks, we propose a cyber deception defense mechanism based on game theory to model the actions between the attacker agent and the cluster head agent and hence, extract optimal strategies during conflicting interactions between the agents. In this paper, we propose using a game with incomplete information to find the Nash equilibrium point. Cyber deception, particularly the integration of a honeypot system, is employed to enhance the solution’s effectiveness in optimizing cluster head energy in the face of potential attacks. The proposed solution demonstrates its effectiveness in mitigating attacks of varying intensity against the cluster head.