Cover
Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026)

Published: June 15, 2026

Pages: 114-127

Original Article

Machine Learning-Based Detection and Prevention of DoS and DDoS Attacks in SDWSN

Abstract

Software Defined Wireless Sensor Networks (SDWSN) has emerged as a contemporary model to achieve dynamic and secure control in the realm of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. By leveraging the benefits of Software Defined Networks (SDN), SDWSN enables ease of management and configuration of wireless networks, thereby overcoming the challenges associated with traditional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). However, SDWSN networks are susceptible to emerging network intrusion and threats, particularly Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which can significantly impact the network’s performance and cause operational losses. This study proposes a machine learning based algorithm for detecting and preventing DoS and DDoS attacks in SDWSN networks. The proposed algorithm uses various features to distinguish between benign traffic and malicious traffic generated by attacks. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively detect and prevent DoS attacks, significantly contributing to the security of SDWSN networks.

References

  1. I. Mathebula, B. Isong, N. Gasela, and A. M. Abu- Mahfouz, “Analysis of sdn-based security challenges and solution approaches for sdwsn usage,” in 2019 IEEE 28th international symposium on industrial electronics (ISIE), pp. 1288–1293, IEEE, 2019.
  2. S. M. W. Umba, A. M. Abu-Mahfouz, T. Ramotsoela, and G. P. Hancke, “Comparative study of artificial intelligence based intrusion detection for software-defined wireless sensor networks,” in 2019 IEEE 28th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE), pp. 2220–2225, IEEE, 2019.
  3. H. I. Kobo, A. M. Abu-Mahfouz, and G. P. Hancke, “A survey on software-defined wireless sensor networks: Challenges and design requirements,” IEEE access, vol. 5, pp. 1872–1899, 2017.
  4. D. Kreutz, F. M. Ramos, and P. Verissimo, “Towards secure and dependable software-defined networks,” in Proceedings of the second ACM SIGCOMM workshop on Hot topics in software defined networking, pp. 55–60, 2013.
  5. S. Sezer, S. Scott-Hayward, P. K. Chouhan, B. Fraser, D. Lake, J. Finnegan, N. Viljoen, M. Miller, and N. Rao, “Are we ready for sdn? implementation challenges for software-defined networks,” IEEE Communications magazine, vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 36–43, 2013.
  6. Z. Yan and C. Prehofer, “Autonomic trust management for a component-based software system,” IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 810–823, 2010.
  7. S. W. Pritchard, G. P. Hancke, and A. M. Abu-Mahfouz, “Security in software-defined wireless sensor networks: Threats, challenges and potential solutions,” in 2017 IEEE 15th international conference on industrial informatics (INDIN), pp. 168–173, IEEE, 2017.
  8. M. A. Elsadig, “Detection of denial-of-service attack in wireless sensor networks: A lightweight machine learning approach,” IEEE Access, 2023.
  9. G. A. N. Segura, A. Chorti, and C. B. Margi, “Distributed dos attack detection in sdn: Tradeoffs in resource constrained wireless networks,” in 2021 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), pp. 131– 135, IEEE, 2021.
  10. Y.-W. Chen, J.-P. Sheu, Y.-C. Kuo, and N. Van Cuong, “Design and implementation of iot ddos attacks detection system based on machine learning,” in 2020 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), pp. 122–127, IEEE, 2020.
  11. A. O. Alzahrani and M. J. Alenazi, “Designing a network intrusion detection system based on machine learning for software defined networks,” Future Internet, vol. 13, no. 5, p. 111, 2021.
  12. V. Kumar Singh, DDOS attack detection and mitigation using statistical and machine learning methods in SDN. PhD thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland, 2020.
  13. G. A. N. Segura, S. Skaperas, A. Chorti, L. Mamatas, and C. B. Margi, “Denial of service attacks detection in software-defined wireless sensor networks,” in 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), pp. 1–7, IEEE, 2020.
  14. A. T. Kgogo, Intrusion detection system in software defined wireless sensor networks. PhD thesis, North- West University (South Africa), 2019.
  15. Y. Liu, D. Sun, R. Zhang, and W. Li, “A method for detecting ldos attacks in sdwsn based on compressed hilbert–huang transform and convolutional neural networks,” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 10, p. 4745, 2023.
  16. K. Indira and U. Sakthi, “A hybrid intrusion detection system for sdwsn using random forest (rf) machine learning approach,” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol. 11, no. 2, 2020.
  17. B. B. Letswamotse, R. Malekian, C.-Y. Chen, and K. M. Modieginyane, “Software defined wireless sensor networks (sdwsn): a review on efficient resources, applications and technologies,” Journal of Internet Technology, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 1303–1313, 2018.
  18. H. Mostafaei and M. Menth, “Software-defined wireless sensor networks: A survey,” Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 119, pp. 42–56, 2018.
  19. N. Ahmed, A. b. Ngadi, J. M. Sharif, S. Hussain, M. Uddin, M. S. Rathore, J. Iqbal, M. Abdelhaq, R. Alsaqour, S. S. Ullah, et al., “Network threat detection using machine/ deep learning in sdn-based platforms: a comprehensive analysis of state-of-the-art solutions, discussion, challenges, and future research direction,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 20, p. 7896, 2022.
  20. I. Ahmad, S. Namal, M. Ylianttila, and A. Gurtov, “Security in software defined networks: A survey,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 2317–2346, 2015.
  21. H. I. Kobo, A. M. Abu-Mahfouz, and G. P. Hancke, “Fragmentation-based distributed control system for software-defined wireless sensor networks,” IEEE transactions on industrial informatics, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 901– 910, 2018.
  22. G. G. Gebremariam, J. Panda, and S. Indu, “Localization and detection of multiple attacks in wireless sensor networks using artificial neural network,” Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, vol. 2023, no. 1, p. 2744706, 2023.