Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Danger Is Ubiquitous: Detecting Malicious Activities in
Sensor Networks Using the Dendritic Cell Algorithm
Jungwon Kim, Peter Bentley,
Christian Wallenta,
Mohamed Ahmed, and Stephen Hailes
Department of Computer Science, University College London,
Malet Place, London, U.K., WC1E 6BT
{J.Kim, P.Bentley, C.Wallenta, M.Ahmed, S.Hailes}@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Abstract.
There is a list of unique immune features that are currently absent
from the existing artificial immune systems and other intelligent paradigms. We
argue that some of AIS features can be inherent in an application itself, and thus
this type of application would be a more appropriate substrate in which to
develop and integrate the benefits brought by AIS. We claim here that sensor
networks are such an application area, in which the ideas from AIS can be
readily applied. The objective of this paper is to illustrate how closely a Danger
Theory based AIS - in particular the Dendritic Cell Algorithm matches the
structure and functional requirements of sensor networks. This paper also
introduces a new sensor network attack called an
Interest Cache Poisoning
Attack
and discusses how the DCA can be applied to detect this attack.
Keywords:
Danger Theory, Artificial Immune Systems, Sensor Networks,
Interest Cache Poisoning Attack.
1 Introduction
Danger threatens living organisms every day of their lives. Intuitively, one might
therefore suppose that a successful strategy in our immune systems would be to detect
danger instead of relying solely on the detection of antigens that identify specific
pathogens. A hotly debated hypothesis in immunology known as the Danger Theory
[13] proposes just this. This theory suggests that the human immune system can
detect danger in addition to antigens in order to trigger appropriate immune responses.
The Danger Theory states that appropriate immune responses produced by the
immune system emerge from the balance between the concentration of danger and
safe signals within the tissue of a body, not by discrimination of self from non-self.
Danger also threatens modern computer networks every day. Aickelin
et al.
[1]
presented the first in-depth discussion on the application of Danger Theory to
intrusion detection and the possibility of combining research from wet and computer
laboratory results. Their work aimed to build a computational model of Danger
Theory in order to define, explore, and find danger signals. Greensmith
et al
[5]
employed Dendritic Cells (DCs) within a Danger Theory based artificial immune
system (AIS). DCs are a class of antigen presenting cells that ingest antigens or
