Abstract

The proliferation of sensor-based Internet of Things (IoT) networks has transformed industries ranging from smart cities and healthcare to industrial automation. While IoT networks offer enhanced monitoring, automation, and real-time decision-making, their widespread deployment introduces significant security and architectural vulnerabilities. Sensor nodes, gateways, and communication protocols in IoT networks are often resource-constrained, heterogeneous, and widely distributed, making them susceptible to attacks, data breaches, and system failures. This paper investigates architectural vulnerability assessment for sensor-based IoT networks, focusing on identifying weaknesses in network design, sensor deployment, communication protocols, and data management. The study explores threat modeling, vulnerability scoring, and risk prioritization techniques to systematically evaluate IoT architectures. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, vulnerabilities are analyzed at multiple layers, including physical, network, and application layers, with consideration of hardware limitations, energy constraints, and connectivity dependencies. Experimental simulations demonstrate critical points of failure, potential attack vectors, and mitigation strategies to enhance network resilience. The research emphasizes the integration of proactive vulnerability assessment into the design and deployment of IoT networks to ensure secure, reliable, and sustainable operation in increasingly complex environments. The findings provide guidelines for securing sensor-based IoT architectures while maintaining functionality and efficiency