Randomly directed exploration: An efficient node clone detection protocol in wireless sensor networks

Node clone attack, that is, the attempt by an adversary to add one or more nodes to the network by cloning captured nodes, imposes a severe threat to wireless sensor networks. Several distributed detection protocols have been proposed against this attack. However, all of them rely on too strong assumptions and cannot be efficiently applied to most of sensor networks. In this paper, we propose an innovative randomly directed exploration protocol to detect the node clone. Each node need only know its neighbors' information, and then collaborates to forward claiming messages, trying to find out clone. No any specific routing protocols or infrastructures are demanded in the proposed protocol. Therefore, it is highly practical in the general sensor network applications. In addition, the memory requirement of the protocol is almost optimal. Furthermore, the protocol consumes relatively low communication overload, which is not inferior to any previous schemes. The simulation results show that the protocol can achieve high detection probability. Overall, the proposed protocol outweighs previous approaches in terms of practicability and performance.