A Secure Spectrum Handoff Mechanism in Cognitive Radio Networks

Abstract

The need for more efficient spectrum utilization is becoming more pronounced in our increasingly digitalized society. However, this also introduces a variety of new security threats. In this paper, we introduce a novel cognitive user emulation attack (CUEA) in a cognitive radio network (CRN), which can be exploited by intruders during spectrum handoff. Then, we propose a secure handoff mechanism that can successfully counter such an attack by introducing a coordinating cognitive user that computes the level of trust of each cognitive user based on its behavioral characteristics. Malicious users can be effectively identified by the coordinating cognitive user by looking up the trust values. The performance of the proposed mechanism is validated using MATLAB simulations. The simulation results show that the utility of the proposed mechanism in terms of its probability in correctly identifying false authentication, detection rate, throughput rate, and transmission delay. IEEE