Time Synchronization Attack Scenarios and Analysis of Effective Self-Detection Parameters in a Distributed Industrial Wireless Sensor Network

Time Synchronization is an essential communication component for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs). An IWSN is composed of multiple distributed resource-constrained sensor nodes, which require their local clocks to be synchronized with each other in order to exchange packets in real time precisely ordered schedule. Time synchronization strategies are not designed with security support. As a consequence, a new generation of attacks arose, specifically targeting the corresponding protocols. Recent research studies prove that some attacks are practical and severe. At the same time, the set of detection parameters proposed in emerging attack detection techniques are not sufficient to catch up on the attacks. In this paper, we analyze in depth some attack strategies and develop new useful detection parameters. The key concept behind our mechanism is to use the MAC layer protocol characteristics to figure out novel metrics as inputs for a self-detection of time synchronization attacks.