Model-based framework for exploiting sensors of IoT devices using a botnet: a case study with android

Zubair Khaliq, Dawood Ashraf Khan, Asif Iqbal Baba, Shahbaz Ali and Sheikh Umar Farooq

Cyber-Physical Systems, 2025, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-46

Abstract: Botnets have become a severe security threat not only to the Internet but also to the devices connected to it. Factors like the exponential growth of IoT, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ever-larger number of cybercriminals are incentivising the growth of botnets in this domain. The recent outbreak of botnets like Dark Nexus (derived from Qbot and Mirai), Mukashi, LeetHozer, Hoaxcalls, etc. shows the alarming rate at which this threat is converging. The botnets have attributes that make them an excellent platform for malicious activities in IoT devices used by organisations to safeguard the personal and confidential data of their customers, employees, and business partners. The IoT devices have built-in sensors or actuators that can be exploited to monitor or control the physical environment of the entities connected to them, thereby violating the fundamental concept of privacy-by-design of these devices. In this paper, we design and describe a modular botnet framework for IoT. The framework uses an enhanced centralised architecture associated with a novel ‘Domain Fluxing Technique’. The proposed framework will provide insights into how privacy in IoT devices can be incorporated at design time to check the sensors and actuators in these devices against malicious exploitation, consequently preserving privacy.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/23335777.2024.2350001

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