BCEAD: A Blockchain-Empowered Ensemble Anomaly Detection for Wireless Sensor Network via Isolation Forest

Abstract

The distributed deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) makes the network more convenient, but it also causes more hidden security hazards that are difficult to be solved. For example, the unprotected deployment of sensors makes distributed anomaly detection systems for WSNs more vulnerable to internal attacks, and the limited computing resources of WSNs hinder the construction of a trusted environment. In recent years, the widely observed blockchain technology has shown the potential to strengthen the security of the Internet of Things. Therefore, we propose a blockchain-based ensemble anomaly detection (BCEAD), which stores the model of a typical anomaly detection algorithm (isolated forest) in the blockchain for distributed anomaly detection in WSNs. By constructing a suitable block structure and consensus mechanism, the global model for detection can iteratively update to enhance detection performance. Moreover, the blockchain guarantees the trust environment of the network, making the detection algorithm resistant to internal attacks. Finally, compared with similar schemes, in terms of performance, cost, etc., the results prove that BCEAD performs better.