Network Intrusion Detection for IoT Security Based on Learning Techniques

Pervasive growth of Internet of Things (IoT) is visible across the globe. The 2016 Dyn cyberattack exposed the critical fault-lines among smart networks. Security of IoT has become a critical concern. The danger exposed by infested Internet-connected Things not only affects the security of IoT but also threatens the complete Internet eco-system which can possibly exploit the vulnerable Things (smart devices) deployed as botnets. Mirai malware compromised the video surveillance devices and paralyzed Internet via distributed denial of service attacks. In the recent past, security attack vectors have evolved both ways, in terms of complexity and diversity. Hence, to identify and prevent or detect novel attacks, it is important to analyze techniques in IoT context. This survey classifies the IoT security threats and challenges for IoT networks by evaluating existing defense techniques. Our main focus is on network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs); hence, this paper reviews existing NIDS implementation tools and datasets as well as free and open-source network sniffing software. Then, it surveys, analyzes, and compares state-of-the-art NIDS proposals in the IoT context in terms of architecture, detection methodologies, validation strategies, treated threats, and algorithm deployments. The review deals with both traditional and machine learning (ML) NIDS techniques and discusses future directions. In this survey, our focus is on IoT NIDS deployed via ML since learning algorithms have a good success rate in security and privacy. The survey provides a comprehensive review of NIDSs deploying different aspects of learning techniques for IoT, unlike other top surveys targeting the traditional systems. We believe that, this paper will be useful for academia and industry research, first, to identify IoT threats and challenges, second, to implement their own NIDS and finally to propose new smart techniques in IoT context considering IoT limitations. Moreover, the survey will enable security individuals differentiate IoT NIDS from traditional ones.