Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is the most employed network service in commercial and industrial
applications, for the ease of its technical development in a processor, communication, and low-power usage of embedded
computing devices. Sensor nodes are used for constant sensing, event ID, event detection & local control of actuators. The
applications of WSN mainly include health, military, environmental, smart home technology, & other commercial areas.
When deployed in hostile environmental conditions, the sensor nodes are vulnerable to physical capture and other
constraints that puts security as a major challenge for the researcher’s in the field of computer networking. The inclusion of
wireless communication technology also incurs various types of security threats. The intent of this paper is to investigate
the security related issues and challenges in wireless sensor networks. We identify the security threats, review proposed
security mechanisms for wireless sensor networks. We also discuss the holistic view of security for ensuring layered and
robust security in wireless sensor networks.
Published In:IJCSN Journal Volume 6, Issue 3
Date of Publication : June 2017
Pages : 460-466
Figures :05
Tables : 01
Chandramohan.S : received the B. Tech & M.
Tech degrees from Anna University in 2009 &
2013, respectively. He worked as Assistant
professor in AVS Engineering college, Salem
from 2010 to 2011. After he worked as
Assistant professor in VSB Engineering
college, Coimbatore from 2012 to 2016.He has
been Assistant professor in Rathinam
Technical campus, Coimbatore since 2016.His
research interest includes security in wireless sensor networks.
Pavithra.M : received the B.E & M.E degrees
from Avinashilingham University in 2014 &
2016, respectively. He has been Assistant
professor in Rathinam Technical campus,
Coimbatore since 2016.His research interest
includes security in wireless sensor networks.
Sindhu.B : received the B.E & M.E degrees
from Anna University in 2010 & 2014,
respectively. He worked as Assistant professor
in Narayana Guru Engineering college,
Coimbatore from 2011 to 2015. After he
worked as Assistant professor in VSB
Engineering college, Coimbatore from 2015 to
2016.He has been Assistant professor in
Rathinam Technical campus, Coimbatore
since 2016.His research interest includes security in wireless
sensor networks.
Wireless Sensor Network, Security, Denial of Service (DoS), Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Authentication, Sensor,
Attacks, Holistic Approach
Most of the attacks against security in wireless sensor
networks are caused by the insertion of false information
by the compromised nodes within the network. For
defending the inclusion of false reports by compromised
nodes, a means is required for detecting false reports.
However, developing such a detection mechanism and making it efficient represents a great research challenge.
Trust management mechanism, as an important
complement for password-based system, has significant
advantages for the WSN in the settlement of internal
attack, identifying malicious nodes, system security and
reliability improvement, and so on. Again, ensuring
holistic security in wireless sensor network is a major
research issue. Many of today’s proposed security schemes
are based on specific network models. As there is a lack of
combined effort to take a common model to ensure
security for each layer, in future though the security
mechanisms become well-established for each individual
layer, combining all the mechanisms together for making
them work in collaboration with each other will incur a
hard research challenge. Even if holistic security could be
ensured for wireless sensor networks, the costeffectiveness
and energy efficiency to employ such
mechanisms could still pose great research challenge in the
coming days.
[1] Culler, D. E and Hong, W., “Wireless Sensor Networks”,
Communication of the ACM, Vol. 47, No. 6, June 2004,
pp. 30-33.
[2] Akylidiz, I. F., Su, W., Sankarasubramaniam, Y, and
Cayirci, E., “Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey”,
Computer Networks, 38, 2002, pp. 393-422.
[3] Dai, S, Jing, X, and Li, L, “Research and analysis on
routing protocols for wireless sensor networks”, Proc.
International Conference on Communications, Circuits
and Systems, Volume 1, 27-30 May, 2005, pp. 407-411.
[4] Pathan, A-S. K., Islam, H. K., Sayeed, S. A., Ahmed, F.
and Hong, C. S., “A Framework for Providing E-Services
to the Rural Areas using Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor
Networks”, to appear in IEEE ICNEWS 2006.
[5] Undercoffer, J., Avancha, S., Joshi, A., and Pinkston, J.,
“Security for Sensor Networks”, CADIP Research
Symposium, 2002, available
at,http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~angiez/personal/paper/sensorids.
pdf
[6] Perrig, A., Szewczyk, R., Wen, V., Culler, D., and Tygar,
J. D., “SPINS: Security Protocols for SensorNetworks”,
Wireless Networks, vol. 8, no. 5, 2002, pp. 521-534.
[7] Jolly, G., Kuscu, M.C., Kokate, P., and Younis, M., “A
Low-Energy Key Management Protocol for Wireless
Sensor Networks”, Proc. Eighth IEEE International
Symposium on Computers and Communication, 2003.
(ISCC 2003). vol.1, pp. 335 - 340.
[8] Rabaey, J.M., Ammer, J., Karalar, T., Suetfei Li., Otis,
B., Sheets, M., and Tuan, T., “PicoRadios for wireless
sensor networks: the next challenge in ultra-low power
design”2002 IEEE International
Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2002), Volume
1, 3-7 Feb. 2002, pp. 200 – 201.
[9] Hollar, S, “COTS Dust”, Master’s Thesis, Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science Department, UC
Berkeley, 2000.
[10] Saleh, M. and Khatib, I. A., “Throughput Analysis of
WEP Security in Ad Hoc Sensor Networks”, Proc. The
Second International Conference on Innovations in
Information Technology (IIT’05), September 26-28,
Dubai, 2005.
[11] Kurak, C and McHugh, J, “A Cautionary Note on Image
Downgrading in Computer Security Applications”,
Proceedings of the 8th Computer Security Applications
Conference, San Antonio, December, 1992, pp. 153-159.
[12] Mokowitz, I. S., Longdon, G. E., and Chang, L., “A New
Paradigm Hidden in Steganography”, Proc.of the 2000
workshop on New security paradigms, Ballycotton,
County Cork, Ireland, 2001, pp. 41 – 50.
[13] Kim, C. H., O, S. C., Lee, S., Yang, W. I., and Lee, H-W.,
“Steganalysis on BPCS Steganography”, Pacific Rim
Workshop on Digital Steganography (STEG’03), July 3-
4, Japan , 2003.
[14] Younis, M., Akkaya, K., Eltoweissy, M., and Wadaa, A.,
“On handling QoS traffic in wireless sensor networks”,
Proc. of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference
on System Sciences, 2004, 5-8 January, 2004, pp. 292 –
301.
[15] Orihashi, M., Nakagawa, Y., Murakami, Y., and
Kobayashi, K., “Channel synthesized modulation
employing singular vector for secured access on physical
layer”, IEEE GLOBECOM 2003, Volume 3, 1-5
December, 2003, pp. 1226 – 1230.
[16] Zhou, L. and Haas, Z. J., “Securing ad hoc networks”,
IEEE Network, Volume 13, Issue 6, Nov.-Dec. 1999, pp.
24 – 30.
[17] Strulo, B., Farr, J., and Smith, A., “Securing Mobile Ad
hoc Networks — A Motivational Approach”, BT
Technology Journal, Volume 21, Issue 3, 2003, pp. 81 –
89.
[18] Yang, H., Luo, H., Ye, F., Lu, S., and Zhang, L.,
“Security in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: Challenges and
Solutions”, IEEE Wireless Communications, Volume 11,
Issue 1, February 2004, pp. 38 – 47.
[19] Pathan, A-S. K., Alam, M., Monowar, M., and Rabbi, F.,
“An Efficient Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc
Networks with Neighbor Awareness and Multicasting”,
Proc. IEEE E-Tech, Karachi, 31 July, 2004, pp. 97-100.
[20] Blackert, W.J., Gregg, D.M., Castner, A.K., Kyle, E.M.,
Hom, R.L., and Jokerst, R.M., “Analyzing interaction
between distributed denial of service attacks and
mitigation technologies”, Proc. DARPA Information
Survivability Conference and Exposition, Volume 1, 22-
24 April, 2003, pp. 26 – 36.
[21] Wang, B-T. and Schulzrinne, H., “An IP traceback
mechanism for reflective DoS attacks”, Canadian
Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Volume 2, 2-5 May 2004, pp. 901 – 904.
[22] Pfleeger, C. P. and Pfleeger, S. L., “Security in
Computing”, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall 2003.
[23] Douceur, J. “The Sybil Attack”, 1st International
Workshop on Peer-to-Peer Systems (2002).
[24] Newsome, J., Shi, E., Song, D, and Perrig, A, “The sybil
attack in sensor networks: analysis & defenses”, Proc. of
the third international symposium on Information
processing in sensor networks, ACM, 2004, pp. 259 –
268. [25] Culpepper, B.J. and Tseng, H.C., “Sinkhole intrusion
indicators in DSR MANETs”, Proc. First International
Conference on Broad band Networks, 2004, pp. 681 –
688.
[26] Karlof, C. and Wagner, D., “Secure routing in wireless
sensor networks: Attacks and countermeasures”,
Elsevier's Ad Hoc Network Journal, Special Issue on
Sensor Network Applications and Protocols, September
2003, pp. 293-315.
[27] Hu, Y.-C., Perrig, A., and Johnson, D.B., “Packet leashes:
a defenseagainst wormhole attacks in wireless networks”,
Twenty-Second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE
Computer and Communications Societies. IEEE
INFOCOM 2003, Vol. 3, 30 March-3 April 2003, pp.
1976 – 1986.
[28] Kulkarni, S. S., Gouda, M. G., and Arora, A., “Secret
instantiation in adhoc networks,” Special Issue of
Elsevier Journal of Computer Communications on
Dependable Wireless Sensor Networks, May 2005, pp. 1–
15.
[29] Du, W., Deng, J., Han, Y. S., and Varshney, P. K., “A
pairwise key pre-distribution scheme for wireless sensor
networks”, Proc. of the 10th ACM conference on
Computer and communications security, 2003, pp. 42-51.
[30] Oniz, C. C, Tasci, S. E, Savas, E., Ercetin, O., and Levi,
A, “SeFER: Secure, Flexible and EfficientRouting
Protocol for Distributed Sensor Networks”, from
http://people.sabanciuniv.edu/~levi/SeFER_EWSN.pdf
[31] Wood, A. D. and Stankovic, J. A., “Denial of Service in
Sensor Networks”, Computer, Volume 35, Issue 10, Oct.
2002 pp. 54 - 62.
[32] Slijepcevic, S., Potkonjak, M., Tsiatsis, V., Zimbeck, S.,
and Srivastava, M.B., “On communication security in
wireless ad-hoc sensor networks”, 11th IEEE
International Workshops on EnablingTechnologies:
Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, 2002, 10-12
June 2002, pp. 139 – 144.
[33] Ye, F., Luo, H., Lu, S, and Zhang, L, “Statistical en-route
filtering of injected false data in sensor networks”, IEEE
Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Volume
23, Issue 4, April 2005, pp. 839 – 850.
[34] Yuan, L. and Qu, G., “Design space exploration for
energy-efficient secure sensor network”, Proc.The IEEE
International Conference on Application-Specific
Systems, Architectures and Processors, 2002, 17-19 July
2002, pp. 88 – 97.
[35] Karlof, C., Sastry, N., and Wagner, D., “TinySec: a link
layer security architecture for wireless sensor networks”,
Proc. of the 2nd international conference on Embedded
networked sensor systems, Baltimore, MD, USA, 2004,
pp. 162 – 175.
[36] Younis, M., Youssef, M., and Arisha, K., “Energy-aware
routing in cluster-based sensor networks” Proc. 10th
IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis
and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunications
Systems, 1-16 Oct. 2002 pp. 129 – 136.
[37] Avancha, S, “A Holistic Approach to Secure Sensor
Networks”, PhD Dissertition, University of Maryland,
2005.
[38] Wood, A.D., Stankovic, J.A., and Son, S.H., “JAM: A
Jammed-Area Mapping Service for Sensor Networks”,
24th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2003,
pp. 286-297.
[39] Cagalj, M., Capkun, S., and Hubaux, J-P., “Wormholebased
Anti-Jamming Techniques in SensorNetworks”
from
http://lcawww.epfl.ch/Publications/Cagalj/CagaljCH05-
worm.pdf
[40] Hamid, M. A., Rashid, M-O., and Hong, C. S., “Routing
Security in Sensor Network: Hello Flood Attack and
Defense”, to appear in IEEE ICNEWS 2006, 2-4 January,
Dhaka.
[41] Chan, H, Perrig, A., and Song, D., "Random key
predistribution schemes for sensor networks", In IEEE
Symposium on Security and Privacy, Berkeley,
California, May 11-14 2003, pp. 197–213.
http://people.sabanciuniv.edu/~levi/SeFER_EWSN.pdf
[42] Eschenauer, L. and Gligor, V. D., "A key-management
scheme for distributed sensor networks", Proc. ACM
CCS'02, 18-22 November 2002, pp. 41-47.
[43] Karakehayov, Z., "Using REWARD to detect team blackhole
attacks in wireless sensor networks", in Workshop
on Real-World Wireless Sensor Networks
(REALWSN'05), 20-21 June, 2005,Stockholm,
SwedenThe IEEE International Conference on
Application-Specific Systems,Architectures and
Processors, 2002, 17-19 July 2002, pp. 88 – 97.