Privacy Concerns of Sensor Networks Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Privacy Concerns of Sensor Networks - Coursework Example This is necessary to protect the privacy of all involved. Information that is sent over the networks may be modified by hackers, rendering it unavailable. The time synchronization of sensor networks may also be thwarted by adversaries by masquerade attacks, replay attacks, and delay attacks. (Bojkovic, 2008, pp. 107, 112). An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is one way of combating threats. The IDS protects the WSN by monitoring it, alerting the user that an attack has occurred and reconfiguring the network and marking the root of the malicious problem. The IDS works either by preventing known attacks by matching attack signatures against the monitored system, or by anomaly detection, in which anomalies in data profiles are identified. The first of these solutions have the drawback of not recognizing new attacks; the second has the drawback of creating a high number of false alarms. One of the problems with sensor networks is the risk of data misrepresentation, as all relevant information is impossible to gather in the sensornet environment, as all data that is collected represents data from a discrete time and space, hence it might be taken out of context. Also, the readings are only approximate for the same reason – that the data collected represent the state of the world at a particular time and space, which is the time and space where the samples were acquired. Therefore, the accuracy of the data that is acquired is subject to misrepresentation and inaccuracies even in situations where security is not compromised.