An Analytical Model on Eavesdropping Attacks in Wireless Networks

Abstract—This paper concerns the eavesdropping problem from the eavesdroppers ’ perspective, which is new since most of previous studies only concentrate on the good nodes. We propose an analytical framework to investigate the eavesdropping attacks, taking account into various channel conditions and antenna models. Our extensive numerical results show that the probability of eavesdropping attacks heavily depends on the shadow fading effect, the path loss effect and the antenna models; particularly, they imply that using directional antennas at eavesdroppers can increase the probability of eavesdropping attacks when the path loss effect is less notable. This study is helpful for us to prevent the eavesdropping attacks effectively and economically. I