DEVS-Based Modeling and Simulation to Reveal Emergent Behaviors of IoT Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a complex system of systems where billions of IoT devices are connected to the Internet. IoT devices perform their normal functionalities which result in normal traffic behaviors. IoT botnets exploit the devices to launch distributed denial of service attacks which result in abnormal traffic volumes. The abnormal behaviors emerge as a result of exploiting a large number of IoT devices which results in an unprecedented volume of traffic. This chapter uses modeling and simulation to describe normal and abnormal traffic behaviors of different types of IoT devices. The devices are modeled using a bottom-up approach in order to handle the complexity of the entire system. Discrete Event System Specifications (DEVS) formalism is used to simulate IoT devices behaviors to show that modeling and simulation environments can be used to analyze complex systems and reveal emergent behaviors. In addition, simulations can help system administrators to propose detection and control mechanisms to overcome negative emergence.