Energy-Efficient Prevention of Black Hole Attacks in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks: A Review

AbstractWireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) play a pivotal role in various applications, ranging from environmental monitoring to healthcare and industrial automation. However, their vulnerability to security threats, such as Black Hole Attacks, presents a significant challenge in ensuring the reliability and integrity of data transmission. Black Hole Attacks involve malicious nodes that falsely claim to have data but drop packets, leading to data loss and network disruption. As energy efficiency is a critical concern in WSNs, mitigating these attacks while conserving sensor node energy resources remains a pressing research area. Heterogeneous WSNs are characterized by the coexistence of sensor nodes with varying capabilities and energy levels, making them more challenging to secure against attacks. This review paper comprehensively explores the various strategies for the energy-efficient prevention of Black Hole Attacks in heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks. The paper provides a detailed introduction to Black Hole Attacks, discussing their potential consequences on network performance, and highlighting the unique challenges posed by heterogeneous WSNs. Special attention is given to techniques that balance security with energy efficiency, as maintaining a prolonged network lifetime is crucial in resource-constrained environments. This paper offers insights into energy-efficient routing protocols by investigating through routing algorithms like Node placement, Cluster formation, and black hole attack discovery and avoidance algorithm that optimize energy consumption while minimizing vulnerability to Black Hole Attacks.