Label-Based DV-Hop Localization Against Wormhole Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks

Node localization becomes an important issue in the wireless sensor network as its broad applications in environment monitoring, emergency rescue and battlefield surveillance, etc. Basically, the DV-Hop localization mechanism can work well with the assistance of beacon nodes that have the capability of self-positioning. However, if the network is invaded by a wormhole attack, the attacker can tunnel the packets via the wormhole link to cause severe impacts on the DV-Hop localization process. The distance-vector propagation phase during the DV-Hop localization even aggravates the positioning result, compared to the localization schemes without wormhole attacks. In this paper, we analyze the impacts of wormhole attack on DV-Hop localization scheme. Based on the basic DV-Hop localization process, we propose a label-based secure localization scheme to defend against the wormhole attack. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed secure localization scheme is capable of detecting the wormhole attack and resisting its adverse impacts with a high probability.