Advancing IoT security: A systematic review of machine learning approaches for the detection of IoT botnets

The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed many aspects of modern life, from healthcare and transportation to home automation and industrial control systems. However, the increasing number of connected devices has also led to an increase in security threats, particularly from botnets. To mitigate these threats, various machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques have been proposed for IoT botnet attack detection. This systematic review aims to identify the most effective ML and DL techniques for detecting IoT botnets by delving into benchmark datasets, evaluation metrics, and data pre-processing techniques in detail. A comprehensive search was conducted in multiple databases for primary studies published between 2018 and 2023. Studies were included if they reported the use of ML or DL techniques for IoT botnet detection. After screening 1,567 records, 25 studies were included in the final review. The findings suggest that ML and DL techniques show promising results in detecting IoT botnet attacks, outperforming traditional signature-based methods. However, the effectiveness of the techniques varied depending on the dataset, features, and evaluation metrics used. Based on the synthesis of the findings, this review proposes a taxonomy for ML and DL techniques in IoT botnet attack detection and provides recommendations for future research in this area. This review illuminates the considerable potential of ML and DL approaches in bolstering the detection of IoT botnet attacks, thereby offering valuable insights to researchers involved in the domain of IoT security.