Empowering IoT security: an innovative handover-driven node selection approach to tackle conscious mobile eavesdropping

In the era of IoT proliferation, securing interconnected systems is crucial. Physical layer security (PLS) holds promise within the IoT context. However, most existing solutions have disregarded the mobility of eavesdroppers, a common occurrence in practical network environments. To confront this challenge, we present a handover-driven node selection strategy aimed at safeguarding downlink transmissions from a controller to an actuator. This strategy leverages a cluster of controllers to ensure reliable communication and counteract mobile conscious eavesdroppers. To comprehensively address the issue, we introduce a conscious eavesdropping model (CEM) tailored to depict real-world mobile wiretapping scenarios. In a bid to confound the mobile eavesdropper, we devise a handover-driven node selection strategy, optimising it by maximising both handover efficiency and network-wide secrecy energy efficiency (NSEE). Experimental results conclusively establish the efficacy of our proposed node selection strategy, shedding light on the security-reliability trade-off and delay-efficiency trade-off when compared to conventional handover strategys.