Cognitive radios (CRs) have been considered for use in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The area of security in Cognitive Radio MANETs (CR-MANETs) has yet to receive much attention. However, some distinct characteristics of CRs introduce new, non-trivial security risks to CR-MANETs. In this paper, we study spectrum sensing data falsification (SSDF) attacks to CR-MANETs, in which intruders send false local spectrum sensing results in cooperative spectrum sensing, and SSDF may result in incorrect spectrum sensing decisions by CRs. We present a consensus-based cooperative spectrum sensing scheme to counter SSDF attacks in CR-MANETs. Our scheme is based on recent advances in consensus algorithms that have taken inspiration from self-organizing behavior of animal groups such as fish. Unlike the existing schemes, there is no need for a common receiver to do the data fusion for reaching the final decision to counter SSDF attacks. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.