Public key cryptography in resource-constrained WSN

In this paper we present a detailed review of the works on public key cryptography (PKC) in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In the early days of sensor networks, public key cryptography was thought to be completely unfeasible considering its computational complexity and energy requirements. By this time, several works have proved that the lightweight versions of many well-known public key algorithms can be utilized in WSN environment. With the expense of a little energy, public key based schemes could in fact be the best choice for ensuring data security in high-security demanding WSN applications. Here, we talk about the notion of public key cryptography in WSN, its applicability, challenges in its implementation, and present a detailed study of the significant works on PKC in WSN

S-PkSec: an asymmetric key based security management scheme for sensor network operation

This paper proposes a public key based management scheme for secure sensor network operation namely S-PkSec (Public Key Based Security for Sensor Networks) and emphasizes detailed comparison with some similar type of schemes. Although there was a wide held belief of the incompatibility of public key cryptographic (PKC) schemes for wireless sensor networks (WSNs), some recent works have shown that, PKC or asymmetric key based schemes could be implemented for such networks in some ways. The major challenge of employing a PKC scheme in sensor network is posed by the limitations of resources of the tiny sensors. Considering this feature of the sensors, we enhance our previous work [1] with some effective comparisons and energy analysis with other two established asymmetric key based protocols. S-PkSec comprises basically of two parts; a key handshaking scheme based on simple linear operations and the derivation of decryption key by a receiver node. S-PkSec allows both base-station-to-node or node-to-base-station secure communications, and node-to-node secure communications. Analysis and simulation results show that, our proposed architecture ensures a good level of security for communications in the network and could effectively be implemented using the limited computation, memory and energy budgets of the current generation sensor nodes

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

An asymmetric key-based security architecture for wireless sensor networks

In spite of previous common assumptions about the incompatibility of public key cryptography (PKC) schemes with wireless sensor networks (WSNs), recent works have shown that they can be utilized for such networks in some manner. The major challenge of employing a PKC-based scheme in a wireless sensor network is posed by the resource limitations of the tiny sensors. Considering this sensor feature, in this paper we propose an efficient PKC-based security architecture with relatively lower resource requirements than those of previously proposed PKC schemes for WSN. In addition, our scheme aims to provide robust security in the network. Our security architecture comprises two basic components; a key handshaking scheme based on simple, linear operations and the derivation of a decryption key by a receiver node. Our architecture enables node-to-base-station and node-to-node secure communications. Analysis and simulation results show that our proposed architecture ensures a good level of security for network communications, and can be effectively implemented with the limited computational, memory, and energy budgets of current-generation sensor nodes

Security wireless sensor networks: prospects, challenges, and future

With the advancements of networking technologies and miniaturization of electronic devices, wireless sensor network (WSN) has become an emerging area of research in academic, industrial, and defense sectors. Different types of sensing technologies combined with processing power and wireless communication capability make sensor networks very lucrative for their abundant use in near future. However, many issues are yet to be solved before their full-scale practical implementations. Among all the research issues in WSN, security is one of the most challenging topics to deal with. The major hurdle of securing a WSN is imposed by the limited resources of the sensors participating in the network. Again, the reliance on wireless communication technology opens the door for various types of security threats and attacks. Considering the special features of this type of network, in this chapter we address the critical security issues in wireless sensor networks. We talk about cryptography, steganography, and other basics of network security and their applicability in WSN. We explore various types of threats and attacks against wireless sensor networks, possible countermeasures, mentionable works done so far, other research issues, etc. We also introduce the view of holistic security and future trends towards research in wireless sensor network security

Cooperative Public Key Authentication Protocol in Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract. Recent measurements for Public Key Cryptography (PKC) protocols on 8-bit wireless sensor nodes showed optimistic results. It has been shown that Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is quite applicable to WSN. Still, PKC is much expensive in terms of computation and memory compared by the Symmetric Key Cryptography (SKC). In addition, in PKC, each public key needs to be authenticated before it’s used. We believe that sooner or later, PKC will be widely deployed in WSN. Therefore, we present a cooperative distributed public key authentication scheme that does not require any cryptographic overhead. In our scheme, each node is let to store a few number of hashed keys for other nodes. When a public key authentication is required, nodes who store this key help in authenticating it in a distributed and cooperative way. We consider the constrained resources of the sensor node. Additionally, we extend our scheme to fit with small range of authentication error. Keywords: Public Key Authentication, Cooperative Protocol, Voting.