The recent boom in wireless connectivity has seen a rapid deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This boom has led to new challenges in security due to the inherent resource and performance constraints in WSNs. The constraints mean that normal security models deployed on other types of networks are not feasible, and therefore a need for new models is present. One security issue present in these networks is the black hole attack. A black hole attack involves a malicious node, which tries to direct all traffic toward itself and drops all of it without forwarding it to the destination. To solve this issue, a hierarchical detection-based routing model is proposed, which along with the detection of black holes is also capable of actively re-routing the traffic during an attack to prevent any network downtime. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021