The present teaching relates to method, system, medium, and implementations for detecting sensor tampering. Information is received from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) attached to a structure hosting at least one sensor. The information includes one or more measurements associated with the IMU. The at least one sensor is deployed on a vehicle for sensing surrounding information to facilitate autonomous driving. The one or more measurements are analyzed with respect to pre-determined criteria to detect tampering of the at least one sensor. When the tampering is detected, a response is generated to the event.