Revolutionizing internet of things intrusion detection using machine learning with unidirectional, bidirectional, and packet features

Abstract

Detection of attacks on internet of things (IoT) networks is an important challenge that requires effective and efficient solutions. This study proposes the use of various machine learning (ML) techniques in classifying attacks using unidirectional, bidirectional, and packet features. The proposed methods that implement decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting classifier (XGBC), AdaBoost (AB) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) work perfectly with all kinds of datasets and includes. It also works very well with data type-based feature selection (DTBFS) and correlation-based feature selection (CBFS). The experiment results show a significant improvement compared to previous studies and reveals that unidirectional and bidirectional features provide higher accuracy compared to packet features. Furthermore, ML models, particularly DT, and RF, have faster computing times compared to more complex deep learning models. This analysis also shows potential overfitting in some models, which requires further validation with different datasets. Based on these findings, we recommend the use of RF and DT for scenarios with unidirectional and bidirectional features, while AB and LDA for packet features. The study concludes that using the right ML techniques along with features that work in both directions can make an intrusion detection system for IoT networks becomes very accurate.