Practical implementation and performance analysis on security of sensor networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network made of thousands of sensing elements called as nodes with wireless capabilities. Their application is varied and diverse ranging from military to domestic and household. As the world of self-organizing sensor networks tip to the edge of maximum utilization, their wider deployment is adding pressure on the security front. Powerful laptops and workstations make it more challenging for small sensors. In addition, there are many security challenges in WSN, e.g- confidentiality, authentication, freshness, integrity etc. Contributions of this work are as follows: “Symmetric” security implementation: This thesis work designs a symmetric-key based security in sensor hardware in the Link layer of sensor network protocols. Link Layer security can protect a wireless network by denying access to the network itself before a user is successfully authenticated. This prevents attacks against the network infrastructure and protects the network from devastating attacks. “Public key” implementation in sensor hardware: Asymmetric key techniques are attractive for authentication data or session keys. Traditional schemes like RSA require considerable amounts of resources which in the past has limited their use. This thesis has implemented Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in Mica2 hardware, which is an approach to public-key cryptography based on the mathematics of elliptic curves. Quantitative overhead analysis: This thesis work analyzes the wireless communication overhead (No. of packets transmitted) vs the (transmit and receive) energy consumed in mJoules and memory storage overhead (bytes) for ECC as compared to the symmetric counterpart for the implemented WSN security protocols

A Survey on Wireless Sensor Network Security

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have recently attracted a lot of interest in the research community due their wide range of applications. Due to distributed nature of these networks and their deployment in remote areas, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their proper functioning. This problem is more critical if the network is deployed for some mission-critical applications such as in a tactical battlefield. Random failure of nodes is also very likely in real-life deployment scenarios. Due to resource constraints in the sensor nodes, traditional security mechanisms with large overhead of computation and communication are infeasible in WSNs. Security in sensor networks is, therefore, a particularly challenging task. This paper discusses the current state of the art in security mechanisms for WSNs. Various types of attacks are discussed and their countermeasures presented. A brief discussion on the future direction of research in WSN security is also included.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Secure and Privacy-Preserving Data Aggregation Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks

This chapter discusses the need of security and privacy protection mechanisms in aggregation protocols used in wireless sensor networks (WSN). It presents a comprehensive state of the art discussion on the various privacy protection mechanisms used in WSNs and particularly focuses on the CPDA protocols proposed by He et al. (INFOCOM 2007). It identifies a security vulnerability in the CPDA protocol and proposes a mechanism to plug that vulnerability. To demonstrate the need of security in aggregation process, the chapter further presents various threats in WSN aggregation mechanisms. A large number of existing protocols for secure aggregation in WSN are discussed briefly and a protocol is proposed for secure aggregation which can detect false data injected by malicious nodes in a WSN. The performance of the protocol is also presented. The chapter concludes while highlighting some future directions of research in secure data aggregation in WSNs.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

An Outline of Security in Wireless Sensor Networks: Threats, Countermeasures and Implementations

With the expansion of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the need for securing the data flow through these networks is increasing. These sensor networks allow for easy-to-apply and flexible installations which have enabled them to be used for numerous applications. Due to these properties, they face distinct information security threats. Security of the data flowing through across networks provides the researchers with an interesting and intriguing potential for research. Design of these networks to ensure the protection of data faces the constraints of limited power and processing resources. We provide the basics of wireless sensor network security to help the researchers and engineers in better understanding of this applications field. In this chapter, we will provide the basics of information security with special emphasis on WSNs. The chapter will also give an overview of the information security requirements in these networks. Threats to the security of data in WSNs and some of their counter measures are also presented