Classification and Analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 PHY Layer Attacks

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard has been established as the dominant enabling technology for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). With the proliferation of many security-sensitive applications involving WSNs in a diverse set of fields, WSN security has become a topic of great significance. WSNs possess additional vulnerabilities in comparison with traditional wired and wireless networks, such as broadcast nature of wireless medium, dynamic network topology, resource-constrained nodes, lack of physical safeguards in nodes, and immense network scale. These inherent vulnerabilities present opportunities for attackers to launch novel and more complicated attacks against such networks. For this reason, a thorough investigation of the attacks which can be launched against WSNs is required. This paper provides a single unified survey that dissects all IEEE 802.15.4 PHY layer attacks known to date. While the majority of existing references investigate the motive and behavior of each attack separately, this survey classifies the attacks according to clear metrics within the paper, and addresses the interrelationships and differences between the attacks following their classification. The survey defines two main classifications of PHY layer attacks by combining and refining existing classifications of the attacks obtained from external references. The authors' opinions and comments regarding the placement of the attacks within the defined classifications are also provided. A comparative analysis between the classified PHY layer attacks is then performed with respect to a set of evaluation criteria defined within the paper.