Acquiring Authentic Data in Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks

An Unattended Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN) can be used in many applications to collect valuable data. Nevertheless, due to the unattended nature, the sensors could be compromised and the sensor readings would be maliciously altered so that the sink accepts the falsified sensor readings. Unfortunately, few attentions have been given to this authentication problem. Moreover, existing methods suffer from different kinds of DoS attacks such as Path-Based DoS (PDoS) and False Endorsement-based DoS (FEDoS) attacks. In this paper, a scheme, called AAD, is proposed to Acquire Authentic Data in UWSNs. We exploit the collaboration among sensors to address the authentication problem. With the proper design of the collaboration mechanism, AAD has superior resilience against sensor compromises, PDoS attack, and FEDoS attack. In addition, compared with prior works, AAD also has relatively low energy consumption. In particular, according to our simulation, in a network with 1,000 sensors, the energy consumed by AAD is lower than 30% of that consumed by the existing method, ExCo. The analysis and simulation are also conducted to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed AAD scheme over the existing methods

Self-healing in unattended wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) appeal to a wide range of applications that involve the monitoring of various physical phenomena. However, WSNs are subject to many threats. In particular, lack of pervasive tamper-resistant hardware results in sensors being easy targets for compromise. Having compromised a sensor, the adversary learns all the sensor secrets, allowing it to later encrypt/decrypt or authenticate messages on behalf of that sensor. This threat is particularly relevant in the novel unattended wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) scenario. UWSNs operate without constant supervision by a trusted sink. UWSN?s unattended nature and increased exposure to attacks prompts the need for special techniques geared towards regaining security after being compromised. In this article, we investigate cooperative self-healing in UWSNs and propose various techniques to allow unattended sensors to recover security after compromise. Our techniques provide seamless healing rates even against a very agile and powerful adversary. The effectiveness and viability of our proposed techniques are assessed by thorough analysis and supported by simulation results. Finally, we introduce some real-world issues affecting UWSN deployment and provide some solutions for them as well as a few open problems calling for further investigation

Improving security in data-centric storage for wireless sensor networks

This paper proposes a novel mechanism to provide with security to existing Data-Centric Storage (DCS) solutions for Wireless Sensor Networks. The goal is to achieve a high security level without modifying standard DCS premises or increasing the network overhead. This means we just use the messages an operations already defined by DCS solutions. Our goal is to fulfil two security requirements: (i) only legitimate nodes for an application should be able to access the information of that application, and (ii) avoid long-term Denial of Service attacks targeting an application that operates in the network. Toward this end we define two different solutions depending on whether the sensor nodes in the network are resource-limited or powerful. We run extensive simulations and discuss the efficiency of the proposed solution under two different DCS solutions: GHT that proposes to use a single and static storage node per application, and STARR-DCS that uses multiple storage nodes per application that in addition change over the time. Based on the obtained results and discussion we conclude that changing replication nodes over the time is by itself a smart approach to avoid long-term attacks.The research leading to these results has been partially funded by the Spanish MEC under the CRAMNET project (TEC2012-38362-C03-01) and by the General Directorate of Universities and Research of the Regional Government of Madrid under the MEDIANET Project (S2009/TIC-1468), NSERC DIVA Network Program, Canada Research Chairs Program, the Ontario Research Fund (ORF), ORNEC, the Early Ontario Researcher Award, the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)

A Secure and Low-Energy Zone-based Wireless Sensor Networks Routing Protocol for Pollution Monitoring

[EN] Sensor networks can be used in many sorts of environments. The increase of pollution and carbon footprint are nowadays an important environmental problem. The use of sensors and sensor networks can help to make an early detection in order to mitigate their effect over the medium. The deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) requires high-energy efficiency and secures mechanisms to ensure the data veracity. Moreover, when WSNs are deployed in harsh environments, it is very difficult to recharge or replace the sensor's batteries. For this reason, the increase of network lifetime is highly desired. WSNs also work in unattended environments, which is vulnerable to different sort of attacks. Therefore, both energy efficiency and security must be considered in the development of routing protocols for WSNs. In this paper, we present a novel Secure and Low-energy Zone-based Routing Protocol (SeLeZoR) where the nodes of the WSN are split into zones and each zone is separated into clusters. Each cluster is controlled by a cluster head. Firstly, the information is securely sent to the zone-head using a secret key; then, the zone-head sends the data to the base station using the secure and energy efficient mechanism. This paper demonstrates that SeLeZoR achieves better energy efficiency and security levels than existing routing protocols for WSNs.Mehmood, A.; Lloret, J.; Sendra, S. (2016). A Secure and Low-Energy Zone-based Wireless Sensor Networks Routing Protocol for Pollution Monitoring. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing. 16(17):2869-2883. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcm.2734S286928831617Sendra S Deployment of efficient wireless sensor nodes for monitoring in rural, indoor and underwater environments 2013Javaid, N., Qureshi, T. N., Khan, A. H., Iqbal, A., Akhtar, E., & Ishfaq, M. 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Fault Detection In Wireless Sensor Network Using Distributed Approach

In recent days, Wireless Sensor Networks are emerging as a promising and interesting area. Wireless Sensor Network consists of a large number of heterogeneous/homogeneous sensor nodes which communicates through wireless medium and works cooperatively to sense or monitor the environment. The number of sensor nodes in a network can vary from hundreds to thousands. The node senses data from Environment and sends these data to the gateway node. Mostly WSNs are used for applications such as military surveillance and disaster monitoring. We propose a distributed localized faulty sensor detection algorithm where each sensor identifies its own status to be either ”good” or ”faulty” which is then supported by its neighbors as they also check the node behavior. Finally, the algorithm is tested under different number of faulty sensors in the same area. Our Simulation results demonstrate that the time consumed to find out the faulty nodes in our proposed algorithm is relatively less with a large number of faulty sensors existing in the network

Distributed Fault Detection In Wireless Sensor Network

In recent days, WSNs are emerging as a promising and interesting area. Wireless Sensor Network consists of a large number of heterogeneous/homogeneous sensor nodes which communicates through wireless medium and works cooperatively to sense or monitor the environment. The number of sensor nodes in a network can vary from hundreds to thousands. The node senses data from environment and sends these data to the gateway node. Mostly WSNs are used for applications such as military surveillance and disaster monitoring. We propose a distributed localized faulty sensor detection algorithm where each sensor identifies its own status to be either ”good” or ”faulty” which is then supported by its neighbors as they also check the node behavior. Finally, the algorithm is tested under different number of faulty sensors in the same area. Our Simulation results demonstrate that the time consumed to find out the faulty nodes in our proposed algorithm is relatively less with a large number of faulty sensors existing in the networ

An Implementation of a Multi-Hop Underwater Wireless Sensor Network using Bowtie Antenna

Water quality is a growing area of research, with more and more focus in the UK and globally on environmental issues and water quality. Current methods of monitoring environmental data such as air quality have continued to develop, spurred on by the growth of the Internet of Things. However, water quality monitoring mainly still depends on manual sample collection. This research presents the first implementation of a multi-hop underwater radio frequency sensor network using bowtie antennas combined with the 433 MHz frequency and a controlled flooding routing approach. The experimental work was conducted in the water reservoir and demonstrates the potential of multi-hop routing in underwater sensor networks to extend range to 19 meters as well as improvements on communication distances from 7 meters previously to 17 meters using radio frequency communications in an underwater environment. Simulated results show that the experimental platform used could enable the long-term deployment of an underwater wireless sensor network that used RF for periods of over a year with support for a 100 sensor node network broadcasting twice daily remaining active for 418 days or a 100 sensor node network broadcasting hourly remaining active for 406 days before any node deaths

Model for Secure Data Transmission in Deep Space Networks

The main thrust of space communications to-date has been to provide secure communications between ground mission control and a single spacecraft. Little work has been reported on developing a secure mode of communications in a deep space satellite network. The main objective is to develop an algorithm that can increase the connectivity and security in the communication path of the network.Computer Science Departmen

Security protocols suite for machine-to-machine systems

Nowadays, the great diffusion of advanced devices, such as smart-phones, has shown that there is a growing trend to rely on new technologies to generate and/or support progress; the society is clearly ready to trust on next-generation communication systems to face today’s concerns on economic and social fields. The reason for this sociological change is represented by the fact that the technologies have been open to all users, even if the latter do not necessarily have a specific knowledge in this field, and therefore the introduction of new user-friendly applications has now appeared as a business opportunity and a key factor to increase the general cohesion among all citizens. Within the actors of this technological evolution, wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) networks are becoming of great importance. These wireless networks are made up of interconnected low-power devices that are able to provide a great variety of services with little or even no user intervention. Examples of these services can be fleet management, fire detection, utilities consumption (water and energy distribution, etc.) or patients monitoring. However, since any arising technology goes together with its security threats, which have to be faced, further studies are necessary to secure wireless M2M technology. In this context, main threats are those related to attacks to the services availability and to the privacy of both the subscribers’ and the services providers’ data. Taking into account the often limited resources of the M2M devices at the hardware level, ensuring the availability and privacy requirements in the range of M2M applications while minimizing the waste of valuable resources is even more challenging. Based on the above facts, this Ph. D. thesis is aimed at providing efficient security solutions for wireless M2M networks that effectively reduce energy consumption of the network while not affecting the overall security services of the system. With this goal, we first propose a coherent taxonomy of M2M network that allows us to identify which security topics deserve special attention and which entities or specific services are particularly threatened. Second, we define an efficient, secure-data aggregation scheme that is able to increase the network lifetime by optimizing the energy consumption of the devices. Third, we propose a novel physical authenticator or frame checker that minimizes the communication costs in wireless channels and that successfully faces exhaustion attacks. Fourth, we study specific aspects of typical key management schemes to provide a novel protocol which ensures the distribution of secret keys for all the cryptographic methods used in this system. Fifth, we describe the collaboration with the WAVE2M community in order to define a proper frame format actually able to support the necessary security services, including the ones that we have already proposed; WAVE2M was funded to promote the global use of an emerging wireless communication technology for ultra-low and long-range services. And finally sixth, we provide with an accurate analysis of privacy solutions that actually fit M2M-networks services’ requirements. All the analyses along this thesis are corroborated by simulations that confirm significant improvements in terms of efficiency while supporting the necessary security requirements for M2M networks

Secure and Reliable Deep Space Networks

Satellite systems have the advantage of global coverage and inherent broadcast capability and offer a solution for providing broadband access to end users. The main thrust of space communications to-date has been to provide reliable communications between ground mission control and a single spacecraft. Little work has been reported on developing a secure as well as a reliable mode of communications in a deep space satellite network. Our main objective is to develop an algorithm that can increase the reliability (such as in terms of minimum energy consumption) and security in the communications path while minimizing overheads. We realize this by assigning costs to every node and links in the path and then optimally selecting a path with the lowest cost that is also secure. We develop an algorithm to efficiently compute a secure and reliable communications path at minimum cost. The proposed approach is compared to a shortest path approach. Simulation results indicate that although the proposed approach yields slightly longer paths, it provides a more efficient approach in terms of energy distribution as well as secure paths.Computer Science Departmen