Enhancing Network Intrusion Detection Using an Ensemble Voting Classifier for Internet of Things

Abstract

In the context of 6G technology, the Internet of Everything aims to create a vast network that connects both humans and devices across multiple dimensions. The integration of smart healthcare, agriculture, transportation, and homes is incredibly appealing, as it allows people to effortlessly control their environment through touch or voice commands. Consequently, with the increase in Internet connectivity, the security risk also rises. However, the future is centered on a six-fold increase in connectivity, necessitating the development of stronger security measures to handle the rapidly expanding concept of IoT-enabled metaverse connections. Various types of attacks, often orchestrated using botnets, pose a threat to the performance of IoT-enabled networks. Detecting anomalies within these networks is crucial for safeguarding applications from potentially disastrous consequences. The voting classifier is a machine learning (ML) model known for its effectiveness as it capitalizes on the strengths of individual ML models and has the potential to improve overall predictive performance. In this research, we proposed a novel classification technique based on the DRX approach that combines the advantages of the Decision tree, Random forest, and XGBoost algorithms. This ensemble voting classifier significantly enhances the accuracy and precision of network intrusion detection systems. Our experiments were conducted using the NSL-KDD, UNSW-NB15, and CIC-IDS2017 datasets. The findings of our study show that the DRX-based technique works better than the others. It achieved a higher accuracy of 99.88% on the NSL-KDD dataset, 99.93% on the UNSW-NB15 dataset, and 99.98% on the CIC-IDS2017 dataset, outperforming the other methods. Additionally, there is a notable reduction in the false positive rates to 0.003, 0.001, and 0.00012 for the NSL-KDD, UNSW-NB15, and CIC-IDS2017 datasets.