Machine Learning-Based Dynamic Attribute Selection Technique for DDoS Attack Classification in IoT Networks

Fiber optic networks (FONs) are considered the backbone of telecom companies worldwide. However, the network elements of FONs are scattered over a wide area and managed through a centralized controller based on intelligent devices and the internet of things (IoT), with actuators used to perform specific tasks at remote locations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many telecom companies advised their employees to manage the network using the public internet (e.g., working from home while connected to an IoT network). Theses IoT devices mostly have weak security algorithms that are easily taken-over by hackers, and therefore can generate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in FONs. A DDoS attack is one of the most severe cyberattack types, and can negatively affect the stability and quality of managing networks. Nowadays, software-defined networks (SDN) constitute a new approach that simplifies how the network can be managed through a centralized controller. Moreover, machine learning algorithms allow the detection of incoming malicious traffic with high accuracy. Therefore, combining SDN and ML approaches can lead to detecting and stopping DDoS attacks quickly and efficiently, especially compared to traditional methods. In this paper, we evaluated six ML models: Logistic Regression, K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machine, Naive Bayes, Decision Tree, and Random Forest. The accuracy reached 100% while detecting DDoS attacks in FON with two approaches: (1) using SVM with three features (SOS, SSIP, and RPF) and (2) using Random Forest with five features (SOS, SSIP, RPF, SDFP, and SDFB). The training time for the first approach was 14.3 s, whereas the second approach only requires 0.18 s; hence, the second approach was utilized for deployment.

Internet of Things (IoT) networks have established unparalleled connection possibilities and convenient features and have set new challenges associated with dubious security barriers and potential attacks. This study evaluates attack detection performance of LSTM-Based Variant models namely LSTM, DeepBiLSTM and BLSTM recurrent neural networks by bringing up experiment analysis of the IoT networks. We evaluate the three models using benchmark IoT dataset in terms of detection accuracy, precision, recall and F1 measure. The experiment results indicate that the three LSTM-based models, LSTM, BiLSTM, and DeepBiLSTM, demonstrate a high level of performance, regardless of the batch size (32, 64, 128, 256, and 512). DeepBiLSTM has a little better overall performance, which validates its soundness and suitability towards scale in detecting attacks in large IoT networks.

An intriguing mechanism that facilitates easy connection between several devices is the internet of things (IoT). This encourages the creation of fresh methods for automatically detecting client IoT occurrence traffic. Through this study, we show that several kinds of machine learning methods may produce great accurateness distributed denial of service (DDoS) detection in IoT network traffic by exploiting IoT-particular network characteristics to guide choice of features. The results of the study demonstrated that our system detected DDoS attacks with high precision, confirming its dependability and robustness in IoT network. A DDoS detection algorithm that utilizes machine learning approaches is proposed in the present study. The most recent dataset, CICDDoS2019, was utilized to write this research. It tested a variety of well-liked machine learning techniques and identified the attributes that most closely correspond with projected classes. It is found that random forest was 99.5% accurate in predicting the type of network procedure, demonstrating their extraordinary accuracy.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks are widespread for Internet of Things (IoT) systems that aim to disrupt the availability of a system completely (high-rate DDoS) or partially (low-rate DDoS). Design and placement of intrusion detection systems (IDSs) for DDoS attacks on IoT systems are challenging due to the low power and lossy nature of networks. Existing IDSs are designed to handle either high-rate or low-rate DDoS but cannot handle both with good accuracy. Existing IDS placement techniques are mostly nontransparent, making malicious nodes aware of the presence of IDS nodes. Most of the IDS placement strategies are nonoptimal, making them energy inefficient. Accordingly, this work proposes a transparent, optimally placed, distributed IDS solution, namely, OPTIMIST, which can handle both high-rate and low-rate DDoS attacks with good accuracy. The placement problem is formulated as the weighted minimum vertex cover problem of a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${K}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -uniform hypergraph and solved with an approximation algorithm. The IDS module is based on a long short-term memory (LSTM) model where a novel offline training method for LSTM is proposed using Wasserstein GAN-generated artificial flows. Extensive experimentation on simulation and testbed shows that the OPTIMIST can best achieve the balance between DDoS detection and energy overhead.

This paper examines the enhancement of security measures for the Internet of Things (IoT) systems through the application of Machine Learning (ML) techniques. As the number of IoT devices continues to rise, ensuring their security has become increasingly critical, given that conventional methods frequently struggle to identify advanced threats. This study explores the implementation of several ML algorithms, including Random Forest (RF), Decision Trees (DT), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), to identify anomalies and intrusions within IoT networks. By conducting a comprehensive review of existing research and experiments, it highlights the effectiveness of ML in enhancing IoT security, with high detection rates for various threats, including botnet attacks, Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) incidents, and intrusion attempts. DoS/DDoS attacks and many types of botnets are the most devastating attacks that have been spreading for a long time, and they are still branching out in new ways against IoT networks. They can damage IoT services and prevent these services from being used by legitimate users. Therefore, securing IoT networks becomes a significant concern. The proposed model is used to increasingly monitor network traffic for any deviations from standard patterns IoT networks. This paper also stresses the necessity of utilising suitable datasets and feature selection techniques to enhance the efficacy of ML models. To train our model, we have utilized a dataset called the IoT23 dataset, which is one of the most recent datasets that has many IoT scenarios and anomalous activities. Further-more, we utilised two types of feature selection algorithms, the Correlation-based Feature Selection (CFS) algorithm and the Genetic Algorithm (GA), and then we compared the results of these algorithms when training our model. The best performances were obtained with DT and RF classifiers when they were trained with features selected by CFS However, for training and testing times metrics, DT performance was superior across both feature selection methods.

With the increasing popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, the cyber security of these platforms is a highly active area of research. One key technology underpinning smart IoT systems is machine learning, which classifies and predicts events from large-scale data in IoT networks. Machine learning is susceptible to cyber attacks, particularly data poisoning attacks that inject false data when training machine learning models. Data poisoning attacks degrade the performances of machine learning models. It is an ongoing research challenge to develop trustworthy machine learning models resilient and sustainable against data poisoning attacks in IoT networks. We studied the effects of data poisoning attacks on machine learning models, including the gradient boosting machine, random forest, naive Bayes, and feed-forward deep learning, to determine the levels to which the models should be trusted and said to be reliable in real-world IoT settings. In the training phase, a label modification function is developed to manipulate legitimate input classes. The function is employed at data poisoning rates of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30% that allow the comparison of the poisoned models and display their performance degradations. The machine learning models have been evaluated using the ToN_IoT and UNSW NB-15 datasets, as they include a wide variety of recent legitimate and attack vectors. The experimental results revealed that the models’ performances will be degraded, in terms of accuracy and detection rates, if the number of the trained normal observations is not significantly larger than the poisoned data. At the rate of data poisoning of 30% or greater on input data, machine learning performances are significantly degraded.

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurs when an attacker tries to disrupt a network, service or website by flooding huge numbers of packets on the internet traffic. Detecting DDoS attacks serves the goal of spotting and addressing them promptly to reduce their effects on the network, system or service being targeted. Detecting Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks is crucial, for people, companies and network managers. The detection of DDoS attacks has ranging uses in industries such as network security safeguarding websites, managing cloud services ensuring the security of online systems and services. Detecting DDoS attacks is essential for safeguarding infrastructure upholding service availability and guaranteeing the security of online systems and services. To achieve this objective, we proposed a framework to detect DDoS attacks including six steps. In step one, we start by gathering information, which includes network activity and system records, for operations as well as instances of DDoS attacks. Step two, we identify characteristics of the data collected such as patterns in network traffic, packet details, IP addresses, types of protocols used and more. Step three, we utilize algorithms for feature selection such as Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA), Gray Wolf Algorithm (GWA), Particle Swarm Algorithm (PSO) to pinpoint the features that can distinguish between normal activities and DDoS attack patterns. After that in step four, we divide the processed dataset into sections for training and testing purposes to develop and assess the machine learning models such as SVM (support vector machine), and KNN (K-nearest neighbor). Step five we develop a classification model using machine learning techniques like decision trees, forests, support vector machines (SVM) logistic regression models or neural networks. Finally, we assess the effectiveness of models through metrics such as accuracy rates, precision levels, recall rates, and F1 scores. The results show that the proposed models achieve high results (99.9%). In summary detecting DDoS attacks is crucial for protecting networks, systems and online services against disruptions.

Background. With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) networks in the digital age, the risk of cyberattacks, especially DDoS attacks, is also increasing. IoT devices such as smart refrigerators, thermostats, webcams and other Internet-connected home appliances are being targeted by attackers who can use them as part of a botnet to conduct DDoS attacks. These devices often have inadequate network security and are rarely updated, making them vulnerable. DDoS attacks can result in significant losses such as lost revenue, reputational damage and costs to restore services. So, the vulnerability of IoT networks to DDoS attacks and the need to develop effective protection measures is a pressing issue. Objective. The purpose of the paper is to analyse software that supports DDoS attacks in IoT networks. Provide general recommendations to help improve approaches to defence measures in IoT networks against DDoS-enabled malware. Methods. Five main DDoS attack models are considered: agent-handler model, reflexive model, IRC-based model, web-based model, and P2P-based model. Three most dangerous software capable of DDoS attacks on IoT networks are analyzed: Mirai, XOR.DDoS and Linux.Hydra. Results. There are many models and methods of DDoS attacks on IoT networks. The most dangerous are Mirai, XOR.DDoS and Linux.Hydra. Each of these software has its own specific characteristics and methods of carrying out attacks. The study also showed that there are several effective measures to counter these attacks, including setting strong passwords, regularly updating software, setting up traffic filters and restricting network access. Conclusions. Key aspects of DDoS attacks, their models and process steps are considered. The paper focuses on the three most dangerous software used to conduct such attacks and provides recommendations on how to counteract them.

The increasing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has led to a rise in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on these networks. These attacks can have severe consequences, resulting in the unavailability of critical services and financial losses. In this paper, we propose an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) based on a Conditional Tabular Generative Adversarial Network (CTGAN) for detecting DDoS and DoS attacks on IoT networks. Our CGAN-based IDS utilizes a generator network to produce synthetic traffic that mimics legitimate traffic patterns, while the discriminator network learns to differentiate between legitimate and malicious traffic. The syntactic tabular data generated by CTGAN is employed to train multiple shallow machine-learning and deep-learning classifiers, enhancing their detection model performance. The proposed approach is evaluated using the Bot-IoT dataset, measuring detection accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 measure. Our experimental results demonstrate the accurate detection of DDoS and DoS attacks on IoT networks using the proposed approach. Furthermore, the results highlight the significant contribution of CTGAN in improving the performance of detection models in machine learning and deep learning classifiers.

The extensive utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has revolutionized multiple sectors, ranging from smart homes to industrial automation, while concurrently broadening the attack surface for cyber threats, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This study examines the efficacy of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTMs) in detecting DDoS attacks, focusing on the distinct security concerns presented by IoT networks. Employing the extensive CICDDoS2019 dataset, these algorithms scrutinize individual IP flow records to attain real-time anomaly identification with elevated precision. The evaluation results reveal that both CNN and LSTM models exhibit strong performance, with CNNs showing enhanced precision (99.42%) and F1-score (99.26%) due to their capacity to extract spatial patterns from multidimensional traffic data. Although LSTMs are proficient in capturing temporal dependencies, their elevated computing demands render them less appropriate for real-time applications in resource-limited IoT settings. This paper emphasizes CNNs as a scalable and efficient option for IoT network defence and advocates for more research into hybrid deep learning architectures to improve anomaly detection.

Deep learning techniques for DDoS attack detection: Concepts, analyses, challenges, and future directions

Internet of Things (IoT) security is becoming important with the growing popularity of IoT devices and their wide applications. Recent network security reports revealed a sharp increase in the type, frequency, sophistication, and impact of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on IoT systems, making DDoS one of the most challenging threats. DDoS is used to commit actual, effective, and profitable cybercrimes. The current machine learning-based IoT DDoS attack detection systems use batch learning techniques, and hence are unable to maintain their performance over time in a dynamic environment. The dynamicity of heterogeneous IoT data causes concept drift issues that result in performance degradation and automation difficulties in detecting DDoS. In this study, we propose an adaptive online DDoS attack detection framework that detects and adapts to concept drifts in streaming data using a number of features often used in DDoS attack detection. This paper also proposes a novel accuracy update weighted probability averaging ensemble (AUWPAE) approach to detect concept drift and optimize zero-day DDoS detection. We evaluated the proposed framework using IoTID20 and CICIoT2023 dataset containing benign and DDoS traffic data. The results show that the proposed adaptive online DDoS attack detection framework is able to detect DDoS attacks with an accuracy of 99.54% and 99.33% for the respective datasets.

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks consist of a large number of compromised computer systems that launch joint attacks at a targeted victim, such as a server, website, or other network equipment, simultaneously. DDoS has become a widespread and severe threat to the integrity of computer networks. DDoS can lead to system paralysis, making it difficult to troubleshoot. As a key building block in the development of an integrated defense system, it is essential to detect DDoS attacks as early as possible. With the popularization of artificial intelligence, more and more researchers apply machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) to the detection of DDoS attacks and have achieved satisfactory accomplishments. The complexity and sophistication of DDoS attacks have kept increasing and evolving since the first DDoS attack was reported in 1996. Regarding the headways in this problem, a new type of DDoS attack, named adversarial DDoS attack, is investigated in this study. The generating adversarial DDoS traffic is carried out using a symmetric Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) architecture called Cycle-GAN to demonstrate the severe impact of adversarial DDoS attacks. Experiment results reveal that the synthesized traffic can easily penetrate ML-based detection systems, including Random Forest, KNN (k-Nearest Neighbor), SVM (Support Vector Machine), and Naïve Bayes. These alarming results intimate the urgent need for countermeasures against adversary DDoS attacks.

A blockchain-enabled Model integrates blockchain technology with Intrusion Detection Systems to enhance the security of Internet of Things (IoT) networks. It ensures data integrity, decentralization, and tamper-proof logging of intrusion detection. The approach improves trust, transparency, and real-time threat detection in distributed IoT environments. The existing blockchain-based IDS approaches, Blockchain Enabled (BCE-IoT), uniquely integrate blockchain consensus with federated-style local training, lightweight cryptography, and Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP)-based explainability, ensuring both security and interpretability in IoT environments. The proposed work combines Blockchain technology with explainable artificial intelligence solutions to create a new cybersecurity Model that strengthens intrusion detection within IoT networks. The proposed model enhances transparency in tracking cyberattacks by combining blockchain security storage capabilities with SHAP, an explainable AI. This research utilises machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect threats in real-time, countering Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Denial of Service (DoS), scanning, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), injection, password, and backdoor attacks. BCE-IoT delivers more precise security by combining blockchain’s permanent data features and AI anomaly detectors, thereby reducing security alert mistakes. The performance effectiveness of Blockchain-Enabled IoT surpasses that of the Content Integrity Detection System. It combines Blockchain and Software-Defined Networking to enhance security in network environments, utilising blockchain-based mutual confirmation for software-defined networking to detect and block cyber threats. The evaluation establishes BCE-IoT as an effective IoT network security solution that delivers strong cybersecurity features, is adaptable to modern connected environments, and offers interpretable security solutions. The performance evaluations demonstrate that BCE-IoT provides a robust, flexible, and interpretable cybersecurity solution suitable for modern IoT environments.

Revolutionizing industries through the Internet of Everything (IoE) can lead to severe cyber security issues, especially in the case of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks where Internet of Things (IoT) devices are abused to interrupt services. These attacks are way too complex for traditional defenses. Thus it calls out for more sophisticated detection approaches to be implemented. In this research, we develop a lightweight ensemble machine learning framework for DDoS attack detection in IoT networks using the CIC IoT-2023 dataset. Our focus is on four ensemble models, namely: RUSBoost, AdaBoost (AB), Bagging-Decision Trees (DT), and Random Subspace K-Nearest Neighbors (kNN). We measure the results obtained in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, F1-Score, total time spent in training/prediction and the total size of the deployed model. The results revealed that Bagging-DT performed under sub-optimal conditions with an accuracy of 99.96%, indicating high defensive capabilities in real-time IoT settings. In contrast, the standalone DT achieved 100% accuracy at low resource usage, necessitating only 0.04MB of storage, but it raises doubts about its effectiveness in real life scenarios due to its inability to minimize variances. Random Subspace kNN even with its 99.65% accuracy came out as the most impractical choice due to the high utilization of about 3472.53MB of storage space. These findings highlight the trade-offs between accuracy and resource constraints in IoT security. The proposed Bagging-DT model provides a balance between efficiency and reliability making it an apt and scalable solution for DDoS detection.