A lightweight intrusion detection framework for wireless sensor networks

Abstract In recent years, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have demonstrated successful applications for both civil and military tasks. However, sensor networks are susceptible to multiple types of attacks because they are randomly deployed in open and unprotected environments. It is necessary to utilize effective mechanisms to protect sensor networks against multiple types of attacks on routing protocols. In this paper, we propose a lightweight intrusion detection framework integrated for clustered sensor networks. Furthermore, we provide algorithms to minimize the triggered intrusion modules in clustered WSNs by using an over‐hearing mechanism to reduce the sending alert packets. Our scheme can prevent most routing attacks on sensor networks. In in‐depth simulation, the proposed scheme shows less energy consumption in intrusion detection than other schemes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.