Secure routing for internet of things: A survey

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) could be described as the pervasive and global network which aids and provides a system for the monitoring and control of the physical world through the collection, processing and analysis of generated data by IoT sensor devices. It is projected that by 2020 the number of connected devices is estimated to grow exponentially to 50 billion. The main drivers for this growth are our everyday devices such as cars, refrigerators, fans, lights, mobile phones and other operational technologies including the manufacturing infrastructures which are now becoming connected systems across the world. It is apparent that security will pose a fundamental enabling factor for the successful deployment and use of most IoT applications and in particular secure routing among IoT sensor nodes thus, mechanisms need to be designed to provide secure routing communications for devices enabled by the IoT technology. This survey analyzes existing routing protocols and mechanisms to secure routing communications in IoT, as well as the open research issues. We further analyze how existing approaches ensure secure routing in IoT, their weaknesses, threats to secure routing in IoT and the open challenges and strategies for future research work for a better secure IoT routing.