(An) efficient intrusion detection system (IDS) node selection for congested systems in wireless mesh networks

Abstract

Wireless networks are notably vulnerable to intrusions, as they operate in open medium and don’t have any centralized security systems. In contrast to wired networks, wireless networks need a special method to detect intrusions. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) for wireless networks is widely employed for security purpose to detect illegal intrusions. However, a node acted as an IDS node which overhears and analyses all packets within monitoring range consumes additional resources. Since wireless network resources such as battery and bandwidth are limited, an efficient monitoring node selection scheme efficiently utilizing these resources is needed in wireless networks. In this thesis, we apply an IDS node selection scheme to a wireless mesh network (WMN). The WMN is a promising wireless technology that supply wired infrastructure (Internet Gateway, IGW) with wireless backbone (Mesh Router, MR) to mobile users. We propose an efficient IDS MR placement in WMNs using collected information by the IGW. Existing IDS node selection schemes only consider either network lifetime or battery consumption of the whole network. However, we suggest an efficient monitoring node selection method considering both enhancement of network lifetime and reduction of total battery consumption. To guarantee enough network lifetime and reduce the battery consumption of the whole network, we apply a set covering problem (SCP) to monitoring node distribution problem. Furthermore, we focus on congestion of monitored packets in a buffer of IDS using queuing theory. Packet congestion in IDS node causes the decline of detection rate and the high energy consumption of IDS due to excessive monitoring tasks. Therefore, it is important to avoid the congestion of monitoring tasks. In congested network, our proposed scheme has superior performance than other existing schemes