Improving Security and Energy Efficiency in IoT Networks: A Practical Guide

A practical guide to designing secure and energy-efficient IoT networks through cross-layer frameworks, lightweight cryptography, and machine learning-based intrusion detection, Improving Security and Energy Efficiency in IoT Networks equips readers with actionable strategies to balance security and energy efficiency in resource-constrained IoT environments. It delivers hands-on frameworks validated through simulations and hardware testbeds, covering adaptive routing, lightweight encryption, and ML-driven anomaly detection. It also includes mini-projects, review questions, and reproducible configurations for real-world deployments.

Key Features:

• Effectively balances security and energy efficiency through cross-layer design principles.
• Comprehensively integrates lightweight cryptography, adaptive routing, and ML-based anomaly detection.
• Practically validates concepts with simulations, hardware testbeds, and hands-on mini projects.
• Companion resources include configuration files, scripts, and experiment notes to support reproducibility and classroom use.

Ideal for IoT practitioners, network engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and researchers seeking practical solutions for secure and sustainable IoT systems. Also suited for instructors and students in networking, embedded systems, and cybersecurity courses.

Rashid Mustafa is a Lecturer in Cybersecurity at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Sciences (New Zealand) and holds a PhD in Cybersecurity from Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Over 20+ years across academia and industry, he has supervised 40+ Master’s projects and leads hands-on, lab-first teaching across network security, Microsoft Azure/cloud, Cisco/Fortinet systems, data communications, IoT, and software development (NZQA L5–L7). His research targets secure, energy-efficient cross-layer IoT architectures, ML-assisted intrusion detection, and cloud-enabled network defence, with recent outputs in Sensors (MDPI) and at ICOIN. He builds practical capability with tools such as Snort, Nessus, Wireshark, Burp Suite, and Kali Linux, drawing on prior roles at Saudi Telecom and PARCO Oil Refinery. Alongside Azure training and adult-education delivery, he contributes to curriculum design, industry engagement, and mentoring, helping students translate security concepts into deployable solutions.

Nurul I. Sarkar is a distinguished academic and computer scientist specialising in network design, modelling, and performance evaluation. He currently serves as a Professor and Director of the Networking and Security Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand. He is a keynote speaker, chair, and committee member for various national and international fora. Professor Sarkar has over 30 years of teaching experience in universities at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has taught a wide range of subjects, including next-generation networking, computing technologies in society, Cisco networking, Internet of Things (IoT), data communications, and wireless networks. He earned his PhD in electrical, computer, and software engineering (wireless networks) from the University of Auckland. He is a research assessor for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and The Royal Society of New Zealand. Professor Sarkar has authored over 230 research articles (including more than 20 Q1 journal publications since 2018) in the areas of networking and communications. His work has appeared in leading journals such as IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, IEEE Transactions on Education, Ad Hoc Networks, Computer Communications, and Computer Networks. Improving the Performance of Wireless LANs: A Practical Guide (Taylor & Francis, 2014) is his second book. His first book, Tools for Teaching Computer Networking and Hardware Concepts (IGI Global, 2006), has received worldwide commendation. He has undertaken periods of research leave in South Korea, China, Japan, and Malaysia in recent years. Professor Sarkar has served on the editorial review boards of several prestigious journals and was a Guest Editor for the IEEE Communications Magazine. He was the Conference General Co-Chair for ITNAC 2019 and CECNet 2018, and TPC Co-Chair for ICOIN 2024–2026 and IEEE ICC 2014. He was a co-recipient of the 2017 Best Paper Award from the 31st ICOIN for his work on mobility-aware network selection for V2I communication over LTE-A networks. Professor Sarkar is a Member of the ACM and a Senior Member of the IEEE Communications Society, IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, and the Australasian Association for Engineering Education. His research interests include wireless network protocols, cognitive radio ad hoc networks, IoT, and fog computing.