SU-PhysioDB: a physiological signals database for body area network security

This paper presents a new physiological signals database, SU-PhysioDB, that contains simultaneous measurements of electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure (BP) and body temperature (BT) signals. SU-PhysioDB can be used to evaluate the performance of the security mechanisms designed for the communication among the biosensors within Body Area Networks (BANs). We present a detailed description of our SU-PhysioDB database along with providing a performance comparison of two specific physiological parameter generation techniques using a public database and our SU-PhysioDB database. Results show that our SU-PhysioDB database is a pros-pering option to be used while evaluating the performance of a bio-cryptographic security infrastructure designed for BANs

On the use of ordered biometric features for secure key agreement

In this work, we propose a novel secure key agreement protocol, Secure Key Agreement using Pure Ordered Biometrics (SKA-POB), in which the cryptographic keys are generated using an ordered set of biometrics, without any other helper data. The proposed approach is realized using iris biometrics. Our protocol makes use of hash functions, and we propose a window-based comparison strategy and a window reset method. This way, performance is maximized without sacrificing security. SKA-POB protocol works in round manner, allowing to successfully terminate with key establishment as early as possible so that the complexity is reduced for both client and server sides. Additionally, we employ multi-criteria analyses for our proposed SKA-POB protocol and we provide verification results in terms of performance analysis together with randomness, distinctiveness and attack complexity through security analysis. Results show that highly random and secure keys can be generated with almost no error and with very low complexity

Secure intra-network communication for body area networks

Advances in lightweight, small-size and low-power sensors led to the development of wearable biosensors, thus, to the accurate monitoring of human periphery. On top of this, pervasive computing has been improved and technologies have been matured enough to build the plug-and-play Body Area Networks (BANs). In a BAN, the main functionality of a node is to effectively and efficiently collect data from vital body parts, share it with the neighbors and make decisions accordingly. Because of the fact that the captured phenomenon is highly sensitive against privacy breaches in addition to being transmitted using the wireless communication medium, BANs require a security infrastructure. However, due to the extreme energy scarcity, bandwidth and storage constraints of the nodes, conventional solutions are inapplicable for BANs. In this dissertation, we propose a novel security infrastructure that is designed specifically for the intra-BAN communication. In this regard, we propose a novel key agreement protocol, SKA-PS (Secure Key Agreement using Physiological Signals), which is based on the set reconciliation paradigm. Our protocol generates symmetric shared keys using the physiological parameters derived from the physiological signals of the users, such as electrocardiogram and blood pressure. We also identify 4 different appropriate physiological parameters that can be used as cryptographic keys and propose the techniques of generating them. In the security infrastructure that we have developed for the intra-BAN communication, (i) secure node-to-host association is satisfied, (ii) performance enhancing characteristics of bio-cryptography is brought in the foreground, (iii) adopted physiological parameters are random and distinctive enough, based on the Shannon’s entropy and Hamming Distance evaluations, which respectively, reveals the bit frequencies and measures the bit differences, along with possessing low error rates, (iv) key agreement protocol works dynamically, possessing remarkably high true match and exceedingly low false match rates, and (v) key agreement protocol resists against brute-force, replay and impersonation attacks, together with possessing low communication, computational and storage costs