In the shadows we trust: A secure aggregation tolerant watermark for data streams

Abstract

In many applications such as sensor networks, ehealthcare and environmental monitoring, data is continuously streamed and combined from multiple resources in order to make decisions based on the aggregated data streams. One major concern in these applications is assuring high trustworthiness of the aggregated data stream for correct decision-making. For example, an adversary may compromise a few data-sources and introduce false data into the aggregated data-stream and cause catastrophic consequences. In this work, we propose a novel method for verifying data integrity by embedding several signature codes within data streams known as digital watermarking. Therefore, the integrity of the data streams can be verified by decoding the embedded signatures even as the data go through multiple stages of aggregation process. Although the idea of secure data aggregation based on digital watermarking has been explored before, we aim to improve the efficiency of the scheme by examining several signature codes that could also decrease the watermark detection complexity. This is achieved by simultaneous embedding of several shifted watermark patterns into aggregated data stream, such that the contribution of each data-source is hidden in the relative shifts of the patterns. We, also, derive conditions to preserve the main statistical properties of data-streams prior to the embedding procedure. Therefore, we can guarantee that the embedding procedure does not compromise the usability of data streams for any operations that depends on these statistical characteristics. The simulation results show that the embedded watermarks can successfully be recovered with high confidence if proper hiding codes are chosen.

Determining Distributions of Security Means for WSNs Based on the Model of a Neighborhood Watch

“…Already watermarked data, presented as pseudo-images, that traverse through an additional watermarking/aggregation node are exclusively forwarded to safeguard the fragile watermark. Alternatively, an aggregation tolerant watermark can be considered [74]. To reach the critical amount of data necessary to create a pseudo-image, either forwarded data of other nodes or, in the case of insufficient forwarded data, the node's own data are collected and aggregated.…”

The Use of the Blockchain Technology and Digital Watermarking to Provide Data Authenticity on a Mining Enterprise

“…There have appeared a number of papers devoted to the hiding of information in the data of wireless sensor networks, which is the most urgent for the mining sector. As an example, we will note the papers [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Within the limits of the present research, similar methods can be used for the authentication of mining service machine data.…”

On the Properties of Non-Media Digital Watermarking: A Review of State of the Art Techniques

“…In particular, the Spread Spectrum watermarking technique has important features such resilience against various transformations and simple embedding operations that make it suitable for aggregation supportive environments such as sensor networks [79]. The first attempt to construct the SS watermarks for secure data aggregation is raised by Zhang et al [83].…”

“…Recently, Soltani Panah et al [79] proposed a composite watermark-based solution in which several (near) orthogonal patterns are embedded into several data streams.…”