Wireless Sensor Network Security

TL;DR: This chapter tries to establish a set of metrics regarding energy consumption, memory requirements, design patterns, security features provided, and the like, in order to have a common point of reference among researchers and developers when comparing wireless sensor network security protocols and applications.

Abstract: Sensor networks are comprised of tiny, low-cost wireless electronic devices, capable of gathering environmental information and forwarding them to a base station. The limited computational and communication capabilities that their reduced cost and size enforce introduce a plethora of resource-related challenges in their function and efficiency, let alone security. The majority of existing security schemes and techniques are deemed unsuitable for the sensors’ design constraints and require careful redesign. One goal of this chapter is to help organizations design, implement, and evaluate wireless sensor intrusion detection systems, which aim at transferring the computational load of the operation from the sensors to the base station. The task of intrusion detection becomes more complicated in sensor networks, given that power consumption determines the sensors’ lifetime, and hence the network’s lifetime. As a result, any additional functionality should aim at utilizing the radio (the most ravenous component of a sensor in terms of energy) as scarcely as possible, while requiring the least memory feasible. In addition, the need for lightweight communication protocols results in smaller headers than in other network designs. This chapter also tries to establish a set of metrics regarding energy consumption, memory requirements, design patterns, security features provided, and the like, in order to have a common point of reference among researchers and developers when comparing wireless sensor network security protocols and applications.