Citation: Dener, M. SDA-RDOS:
A New Secure Data Aggregation
Protocol for Wireless Sensor
Networks in IoT Resistant to DOS
Attacks. Electronics 2022, 11, 4194.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
electronics11244194
Academic Editor:
Dimitris Kanellopoulos
Received: 12 November 2022
Accepted: 14 December 2022
Published: 15 December 2022
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Article
SDA-RDOS: A New Secure Data Aggregation Protocol for
Wireless Sensor Networks in IoT Resistant to DOS Attacks
Murat Dener
Information Security Engineering, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Gazi University, 06560
Ankara, Turkey; muratdener@gazi.edu.tr
Abstract:
In a typical Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), thousands of sensor nodes can be distributed
in the environment. Then, each sensor node transmits its detected data to the base station with the
help of cooperation. In this type of network, data aggregation protocols are used to increase the
network’s lifetime and reduce each sensor node’s communication load and energy consumption.
With Data Clustering, the density of data circulating in the network is reduced, thus increasing the
network’s life. Energy, delay, and efficiency are essential criteria in Data Clustering; however, security
is another crucial aspect to be considered. A comprehensive solution for secure data clustering has
yet to be seen when the literature is examined. In the solutions developed, data availability, which
means that the WSN is resistant to Denial of Service (DOS) attacks, has been neglected too much, even
though confidentiality, integrity, and authentication are met with different algorithms. This study
developed a comprehensive, secure clustering protocol by considering all security requirements,
especially data availability. The developed protocol uses the blowfish encryption algorithm, EAX
mode, and RSA algorithm. The proposed protocol was theoretically analyzed, empirically evaluated,
and simulated from many perspectives. Comparisons were made with LSDAR, SUCID, and OOP-
MDCRP protocols. As a result of the study, a comprehensive security solution is provided and more
successful results were obtained according to Energy Efficiency, Network Lifetime, Average Delay,
and Packet delivery ratio criteria.
Keywords: WSN; secure data aggregation; IoT; DOS attacks
1. Introduction
The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a wireless network in which sensor nodes
cooperate to measure and monitor physical and environmental conditions. After perform-
ing the measurement task, the sensor nodes in the environment send the detection values
to the base station with the help of cooperation [
1
]. The data coming to the base station
are also transferred to the internet environment, allowing users to follow the appropriate
environment from where they are. An example of a WSN is given in Figure 1.
The sensor nodes that make up the WSN consist of a sensing unit, a processing unit, a
power unit, and a radio unit. Sensor nodes have three capabilities: computation, sensing,
and communication. Sensor nodes consume the most energy during communication. An
application’s number of sensor nodes may be hundreds or even thousands. Therefore,
a sensor node should cost as little as possible. For the sensor nodes to be cost-effective,
hardware is preferred accordingly, and therefore the sensor nodes’ processor, memory,
energy, etc., is limited. There are three types of topologies in a WSN: star, tree, and mesh.
Most topologies are mesh when considering real applications.
Electronics 2022, 11, 4194. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11244194 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics