Scalable and efficient key management for heterogeneous sensor networks

Abstract

As typical wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have resource limitations, predistribution of secret keys is possibly the most practical approach for secure network communications. In this paper, we propose a key management scheme based on random key predistribution for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HSNs). As large-scale homogeneous networks suffer from high costs of communication, computation, and storage requirements, the HSNs are preferred because they provide better performance and security solutions for scalable applications in dynamic environments. We consider hierarchical HSN consisting of a small number high-end sensors and a large number of low-end sensors. To address storage overhead problem in the constraint sensor nodes, we incorporate a key generation process, where instead of generating a large pool of random keys, a key pool is represented by a small number of generation keys. For a given generation key and a publicly known seed value, a keyed-hash function generates a key chain; these key chains collectively make a key pool. As dynamic network topology is native to WSNs, the proposed scheme allows Scalable and efficient key management for heterogeneous 45 dynamic addition and removal of nodes. This paper also reports the implementation and the performance of the proposed scheme on Crossbow's MicaZ motes running TinyOS. The results indicate that the proposed scheme can be applied efficiently in resource-constrained sensor networks. We evaluate the computation and storage costs of two keyed-hash algorithms for key chain generation, HMAC-SHA1 and HMAC-MD5.

Highly resilient key distribution strategy for multi-level heterogeneous sensor networks by using deployment knowledge

“…All the CHs can broadcast a hello message within a large range area, so that all the lower nodes can choose a proper CH as its CH and key distribution center (KDC) by the best received signal strength indicator (RSSI) [11] . In our model, the best signal represents the shortest straight distance between any pair of nodes.…”

“…(2) Each sensor node, from upper level to lower level (i.e., n k i,j , for k = 2 to L), carries out the following steps: chooses a higher sensor node as its KDC based on the best RSSI [11] ; broadcasts its hello message together with the MAC authentication; collects its neighboring list NL(n k i,j ). (3) Each sensor node, from lower level to higher level (i.e., n k i,j , for k = L down to 2), carries out the following steps: updates its master key K m = H(K I , r i ); transmits its ID and neighboring list together with the MAC to its KDC.…”

“…To enhance the network ability, many studies added a few high-level nodes into the network called the heterogeneous sensor network (HSN) [11][12][13] , and made some experiments to show that the security and performance were better than those of the universal WSN. To build a secure environment under highly fragile sensor network, an effective and efficient key distribution method is the first regard.…”

A Key Management Scheme for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks Using Keyed-Hash Chain

“…Recently, two keyed-hash chain based key predistribution schemes [13] [14] were proposed. Instead of generating a large key pool of random keys, a key pool is represented by a small number of generation keys.…”

“…The scheme uses keyed-hash chain to reduce storage overhead. Different from the existing keyedhash chain based schemes [13] [14], sensor nodes only store commitments for the corresponding key chains. This scheme is resilient to node capture attack in this way.…”