Cryptographic key distribuition in sensor networks

Author(s)

Leonardo Barbosa e Oliveira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Computação
• Defense date: 2008-09-29

Examining board members

Ricardo Dahab; Joni da Silva Fraga; Paulo Sergio Licciardi Messeder Barreto; Julio César López Hernández; Nelson Luis Saldanha da Fonseca

• Advisor: Ricardo Dahab

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are ad hoc networks comprised mainly of small sensor nodes with limited resources and one or more base stations, which are much more powerful laptop-class nodes that connect the sensor nodes to the rest of the world. WSNs are used for monitoring purposes, providing information about the area being monitored to the rest of the system. Application areas range from battlefield reconnaissance and emergency rescue operations to surveillance and environmental protection. There are also critical WSN applications in which security properties are of paramount importance. Security, in turn, is frequently bootstrapped through key distribution schemes. Most of the key distribution techniques, however, are ill-suited to WSNs: public key based distribution, because of its processing and bandwidth requirements; global keying, because of its security vulnerabilities; complete pairwise keying, because of its memory requirements. It is worth noting, however, that a large number of WSN architectures have been proposed and a key distribution solution that is well suited to one architecture is likely not to be the best for another, as different network architectures exhibit different communication patterns. In other words, there is no panacea and the design of a key distribution scheme must therefore be driven by the peculiarities of the WSN architecture in question. This all makes extremely hard and challenging the objective of securing WSNs. In this work, we aimed at proposing key distribution schemes that are both (i) lightweight and (ii) able to fulfill architecture-specific needs. As it will be shown throughout this thesis, we began our work with customized solutions for certain types of WSNs and then, subsequently, turned our attention to more flexible solutions, where security is bootstrapped in a non-interactive way through the use of Identity-Based Cryptography. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 05/00557-9 - Security in hierarchical wireless sensor network
• Grantee: Leonardo Barbosa e Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate