Secure and efficient transmission of data based on Caesar Cipher Algorithm for Sybil attack in IoT

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging concept in the field of information technology. IoT can integrate any real-time entity with another, using sensing, computing and communication capabilities to offer enhanced services in everyday life. In this article, IoT-based patient health monitoring is considered for use in IoT sensors deployed in devices. These devices are attached to the body of the patient for timely tracking of his or her health condition. During data transfers from devices connected to the patient’s body to the doctor, the data may be susceptible to security threats. IoT devices are subjected to many routing attacks, like blackhole, greyhole, Sybil, sinkhole and wormhole attacks. Sybil attacks are the most dangerous routing attacks. This type of attack involves stealing the identities of legitimate nodes; this, in turn, leads to information loss, misinterpretation in the network and an increase in routing disturbances. Hence, in this paper, we propose the use of the traditional Caesar Cipher Algorithm (CCA) along with the lightweight encryption algorithm (LEA) and the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to detect and prevent Sybil attacks in an IoT environment. The proposed algorithm detects the false node in a particular path by announcing the attack to another node. It also prevents the attack by choosing an alternative path by which to forward data packets to the desired users. To ensure authentication, privacy and data integrity, the lightweight encryption algorithm with a 64-bit key is used with AODV as the routing protocol.