Introduction
First of all, it is essential to briefly overview the notion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and describe its overall architecture to provide a proper context for further reasonings. Internet of things is a term proposed by Kevin Ashton in 1999 that refers to a system of interconnected devices’ (Farooq, Waseem, Khairi, & Mazhar, 2015, p. 1). The invention of this system was a revolutionary step for the time when it had been introduced because it significantly advanced the structure of the contemporary Internet, making it a more diverse network.
The core idea of the Internet of Things is to create an interdependent system, in which every physical object is “uniquely identifiable” and connected to each other (Farooq et al., 2015, p. 1). The creation of such a system is an ultimate goal, which will be probably achieved in the future. However, the current state of the IoT technologies has considerable imperfections, which are adversely affecting the correct functioning of the network.
Main body
Further, since the general notion of IoT was discussed, it is possible to move on to the discussion of the structure of IoT. The Internet of Things’ architecture comprises four primary levels, which are the following: perception layer, network layer, middleware layer, and application layer (Farooq et al., 2015). The primary purpose of the perception layer is to collect the information, which is obtained through the observation of unique real-world objects.
When the information is gathered, the network layer is employed to transmit the data through the channels of existing communication networks, such as the Internet, mobile networks, and others (Farooq et al., 2015). Further, the middleware layer is responsible for the processing of information that is delivered by the networks. On this level, the database of the gathered and interpreted information is created, so later other devices could access it. Finally, the application layer is the most useful level from the perspective of people’s needs, since it allows to apply the obtained information from the Internet of Things practically.
However, one of the primary challenges which are imposed for IoT on the level of the application layer is denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. These attacks are among the most widespread issues that concern both regular users of IoT and whole industries. A hacker performs a DoS attack to acquire the “non-encrypted personal details of the user,” and also to put down the system of networks by the flood of the useless stream of traffic (Farooq et al., 2015, p. 3).
As Nguyen, Laurent, and Oualha (2015) observe, “a non-negligible number of devices in IoT are vulnerable to security attacks,” which poses a considerable necessity for the solution of this problem (p. 18). Therefore, it is essential to discuss the possible ways of protecting IoT from denial-of-service attacks. One of the better decisions is proposed in the research by Sicari, Rizzardi, Grieco, and Coen-Porisini (2015).
The authors assume that to protect the privacy of the IoT users, it is critical to developing “a key-changed mutual authentication protocol for WSN and RFID systems” (Sicari et al., 2015, p. 152). Through the development of such protocols, the capability of hackers to retrieve the IoT users’ information would be significantly decreased. Also, the authors mention the Attribute-Based encryption scheme, which has shown significant positive results in protection of the access to information.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is possible to observe that this report provided the necessary information about the general idea of the Internet of Things and its underlying structure. The understanding of the IoT’s essential elements makes it possible to develop better solutions for the protection from DoS attacks. Two solutions, which are based on the scholarly literature, were presented in this report.
References
Farooq, M. U., Waseem, M., Khairi, A., & Mazhar, S. (2015). A critical analysis on the security concerns of internet of things (IoT). International Journal of Computer Applications, 111(7), 1-6.
Nguyen, K. T., Laurent, M., & Oualha, N. (2015). Survey on secure communication protocols for the Internet of Things. Ad Hoc Networks, 32, 17-31.
Sicari, S., Rizzardi, A., Grieco, L. A., & Coen-Porisini, A. (2015). Security, privacy and trust in Internet of Things: The road ahead. Computer Networks, 76, 146-164.