Securing DV-Hop localization against wormhole attacks in wireless sensor networks

Node localization becomes an important issue in the wireless sensor network as its wide applications in environment monitoring, emergency rescue and battlefield surveillance, etc. Basically, the DV-Hop localization scheme can work well with the assistance of beacon nodes that have the capability of self-positioning. However, if the network is invaded by a wormhole attack, the attacker can tunnel the packets via the wormhole link to severely disrupt the DV-Hop localization process. The distance-vector propagation phase during the DV-Hop localization can even aggravate the positioning error, compared to the localization schemes without wormhole attacks. In this paper, we analyze the impacts of wormhole attack on the DV-Hop localization scheme, based on which we propose a label-based DV-Hop secure localization scheme to defend against the wormhole attack. We further theoretically prove the correctness of the proposed scheme. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed label-based DV-Hop secure localization scheme.