Security in Wireless Sensor Networks

Lakmal Danushka Uyanahewage

Wrexham Glyndwr University
Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology
Email: [email protected]

Abstract - Wireless sensor networks are very popular due to their Research Plan
wide areas of deployment. These are implemented in both indoor
Research plan describes the topic of the thesis, providing
and outdoor. A most important use of wireless sensor networks
contextual information, motivations and a schedule of the
is in outdoors and are mostly implemented for a specific mission tasks. The plan is attached as an annexure in the report.
like in battlefield. These networks of interconnected nodes are
vulnerable to different type of threats because of their
deployment in remote areas. The modification in the design and 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
implementation of these networks can help the security analysts
Wireless sensor networks include many smaller sensors and
to reduce their vulnerability to the security attacks. This
devices which have the capability to sense, process and
research paper identifies different forms of threats to the WSNs, communicate. These sensors and devices are used to
and feasible solution to these threats. monitor the environment in different conditions. WSNs are
Keywords- WSN, Wireless Sensor Network Attacker,
used for military surveillance purposes, forest fire
monitoring, machine automation, healthcare and security
Cryptography in Wireless Sensor Network, Security Issues
monitoring of the buildings [1]. Security is one of the major
in Wireless Sensor Networks aspects. Following main security concerns in WSN were
recognized.
I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless sensor network (WSN) is an interconnected 1. Data confidentiality
network which includes many sensors dedicated to be used 2. Data integrity
to monitor and record specific conditions of an 3. Availability
environment. WSNs applications are growing, which range 4. Data authentication
from home and office deployment scenarios to outdoor 5. Robustness and survivability
deployment in adversary’s territory in a tactical 6. Data freshness
battleground. These dedicated sensors are used to collect
data about the conditions of the environment which are then As these security nodes are deployed in the remote areas,
gathered and organized at a central point where the data is they are left unattended which makes them vulnerable to
analyzed and the conclusion can be found. The network of threats. WSN is designed in the method of layers [7]. These
sensors is also called a network of nodes where each and layers help to protect the sensor from numerous attacks.
every node is connected with everyone to make an extensive Figure 1 shows the layer model of security in wireless
map for specific security purposes. All of the nodes are sensor networks. [8]
wirelessly connected to each other. WSNs help the security
providing organizations to ensure the secure transmission of
data. However, due to their deployment in remote areas and
distributed nature, wireless ssensor nnetworks are
vulnerable to various threats that can badly affect the
performance or major failures. This situation become more
serious if the network use for some necessary business
applications (mission critical) such as in a tactical
battlefield, healthcare and public data. Figure 1: Layered Security Model
(Source: J. Grover and S. Sharma, "Security issues in Wireless Sensor
Network, 2016, pp. 397-404.)

2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE Threat Models

Wireless sensor networks are extensively prone to security The security mechanisms are not implemented properly due
threats due to their dispersed network and interconnectivity. to a lack of resources [2]. The three major types of attacks
This research aims to identify a feasible and effective on WSNs are:
security mechanism to successfully mitigate the threats and 1. Network availability attacks
risks of wireless sensor networks. 2. Secrecy and authentication attacks
Research Statement 3. Service integrity attacks
The intention of this small scale research study is to find out Classifiactaion of Secrity Threats
the types of security threats to the wireless sensor networks WSNs are vulnerable to many attacks. Those are shown in
and to identify the best mode of security. Figure 2. They are basically characterized based on routing,
capability and on protocol layer.

1
 Figure 5: Sinkhole attack [15]
Figure 2 : Attacks Classification in WSN
(Source: J. Grover and S. Sharma, "Security issues in Wireless Sensor
Network, 2016, pp. 397-404.)
4. Wormhole attack
In this case, the attacker deceives in the network by creating
paths which appear to be the best. This approach can be used
Basis of Routing to unleash other attacks such as blackhole as shown in
There are many of routing protocols proposed for Figure 6. [15]
transmitting the data in a network from source to
destination. In this process, an attacker can steal or modify
the information with the help of different attacks. [9] [10]
Some of the routing attacks are listed below.
1. Blackhole Attacks
A node, usually malicious, drops packets received from its
neighbor thereby making packets not to get to its destination
as illustrated in Figure 3. [15]

Figure 6: Wormhole attack [15]

5. Sybil Attack
A Sybil attack is an effort to control a peer network by
creating different fake identities as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 3: Blackhole Attack [15]

2. Selective Forwarding Attack

A malicious node selectively drops packets that match
certain criteria and forwards the rest as shown in Figure 4.
[15]

Figure 6: Sybil attack [15]

Based on Capability
On the basis of capability, possible attacks are given below
[11] [12]:
1. Insider vs. Outsider Attacks
2. Laptop-class Attacks vs. Mote-class
3. Passive vs. Active Attacks
Figure 4: Selective Forwarding Attack
(Source: Based on Protocol Layer
http://www.academia.edu/715223/Comprehensive_Study_of_Selective_Forw
arding_Attack_in_Wireless_Sensor_Networks.) Possible attacks on the basis of protocol layers are given
below [13]
3. Sinkhole attack 1. Physical Layer
As much traffic as possible is drawn to the attacking node This layer is used for transmitting information in raw bits
and in most cases, the base station is cut off from receiving over the wireless or wired medium. Most common layer
data from nodes. Figure 5 illustrate this type of attack. [15] attacks are jamming, eavesdropping and tampering. [8].

2
2. Link Layer
Link layer is used to establish proper communication on
physical layer among nodes. Common link layer threats are
interrogation, collisions, and packet replay.
3. Network Layer
The data routing between nodes, nodes to sink, node to BS,
node to CH, and vice versa [13], this layer is responsible
[14]. Every network communication layer, has its own
unique security challenges, the Network Layer also
vulnerable for many denial of service attacks. following are
the possible major attacks at the network layer. [8].

1. IP spoofing
2. Routing (RIP) attacks
3. ICMP attacks
Figure 8: Asymmetric encryption process
4. Packet sniffing (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography)

5. Ping flood (ICMP flood) The problem with the public key cryptography is its
operational speed which is intensive and slow. The
6. Ping of death attack operation includes millions of multiplicative instructions
7. Teardrop attack which makes the operations of cryptography slower [6]. The
solution to the problem is symmetric cryptography. The
public key cryptography includes the encryption and
The intruders use different types of attacks to disturb the decryption with shared public keys which makes the
network. Replicated nodes are added in the network which operation slower while the symmetric cryptography uses
causes interruption and disruption. A new node with the private pairs of keys shared on sender and receiver’s end
copied header of an existing node is added into the network only which makes the system faster. The public key
which creates disruption in message communication. The cryptography have to match and check millions of available
attacker then becomes able to send unwanted packets of pairs of keys to find the suitable one while the symmetric
information into wrong routes of the network which makes key cryptography uses only the selected keys which makes
the network jammed [5]. The replicated node in the network it way faster than the previous one.
may also get attacker the cryptographic key of the network
which will make it easy for him to decrypt the securely The sender in the symmetric cryptography encrypts the
encrypted messages. This usually occurs in the military or message with a private pair of keys and then send this
intelligence agencies communication networks. private pair of keys to the receiver’s end. The receiver then
decrypts the message using the same private pair of keys
which makes it easier for both ends to do their operations in
Security Protocols WNSs an effective and fast manner. This process graphically
Cryptography is a basic technique to achieve the security in shown in figure 9.
a network. It is a technique of hiding the message during
communication. The message is encrypted at the sender’s
side where the actual meaning of the message is hidden.
These hidden meanings are then decrypted at receiver’s end.
Cryptography is used to send secure messages from one
place to another without any unwanted interruption.
Three types of cryptographic techniques used in general.
1. Public-key cryptography
2. Symmetric-key cryptography
3. Hash functions
Figure 9 Symmetric encryption process
(Source: https://www.cheapsslshop.com/blog/demystifying-symmetric-and-
Public key cryptography (Asymmetric cryptography) is a asymmetric-methods-of-encryption)
cryptographic technique which includes the use of
asymmetric pairs of keys to encrypt and decrypt the The only problem in this technique is the secure
messages. The keys in public key cryptography are transmission and transfer of cryptographic keys [7]. It is
disseminated widely. The sender encrypts the message with possible that the keys may get compromised during their
a paired private key while the receiver decrypts it with a transfer which will disturb the whole procedure of
public key. The following Figure 8 shows the process of cryptography.
asymmetric cryptography: No key is used in this hash functions. A fixed length hash
value is calculated as per the plain text that makes it
impossible for the contents of the plain text to be recovered.

3
 3. METHODOLOGY REFERENCES
The methodologies used for the research are desk-based
literature review, secondary data analysis, and questionnaire [1] I. F. Akyildiz, W. Su, Y. Sankarasubramaniam and
based interviews via telephone. Severn participants will be E. Cayirci, "Wireless sensor networks: a survey.,"
selected from high positions in reputed companies and they Computer networks,, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 393-422.,
were interviewed to find out how they perceive the 2002.
vulnerabilities in wireless sensor networks and what do they [2] J. N. Al-Karaki and A. E. Kamal, "Routing
propose to reduce those vulnerabilities. The results of the techniques in wireless sensor networks: a survey.,"
interviews are then compiled along with the literature IEEE wireless communications,, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 6-
review to evaluate the validity of the hypothesis. 28., 2004.
[3] D. R. Raymond and S. F. Midkiff, "Denial-of-service
in wireless sensor networks: Attacks and defenses.,"
4. FINDINGS
IEEE Pervasive Computing,, no. 1, pp. 74-81., 2008.
Following are the outcomes received as the findings of the [4] A. Perrig, J. Stankovic and D. Wagner, "Security in
questionnaire based interviews: wireless sensor networks.," Communications of the
1. 100% of the participants confirmed that wireless sensor ACM,, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 53-57., 2004.
networks are not completely secure, [5] W. Xu, K. Ma, W. Trappe and Y. Zhang, "Jamming
2. 100% of the participants confirmed that wireless sensor sensor networks: attack and defense strategies.,"
networks are prone to security threats and attacks. IEEE network,, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 41-47., 2006.
3. The types of security changes faced and predicted by the [6] A. S. Wander, N. Gura, H. Eberle, V. Gupta and S.
organizations vary from organization to organization. C. Shantz, "Energy analysis of public-key
cryptography for wireless sensor networks. In
4. 100% of the participants confirmed that cryptography is Pervasive Computing and Communications,,"
the best solution to the vulnerabilities of WSNs. PerCom 2005. Third IEEE International Conference
5. 100% of the participants confirmed that public key on , pp. 324-328, 2005.
cryptography is not a feasible technique in WSNs. [7] W. Du, J. Deng, Y. S. Han, P. K. Varshney, J. Katz
6. The best option of cryptography for WSNs is Symmetric and A. Khalili, "A pairwise key predistribution
key cryptography scheme for wireless sensor networks.," ACM
Transactions on Information and System Security
(TISSEC),, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 228-258., 2005.
4. CONCLUSION [8] Jitender Grover, Shikha Sharma and Mohit Sharma,
Wireless sensor networks are important channels for “Optimized gAF in Wireless Sensor Network”, IEEE
security and are highly vulnerable to security threats. These 3rd International Conference on Reliability, Infocom
security threats can be minimized using different Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO
techniques. The goal of the attackers is to interrupt the 2014),Amity University, Noida, DOI:
networks and get into the network to get secret and sensitive 10.1109/ICRITO.2014.7014686, pp. 01-06, October
information. The main solution to the problem is 8-10, 2014.
cryptography. The two major techniques of cryptography [9] Lukman Sharif and Munir Ahmed, “The Wormhole
include symmetric key cryptography and public key Routing Attack in Wireless Sensor Networks
cryptography. The findings gathered in the questionnaire (WSN)”, Journal of Information Processing Systems,
based interviews and also the other contemporary Volume 6, Issue 2, pp. 177-184, June 2010.
researches has proved that the most feasible one is [10] Kyung-Ah Shim, "A Survey of Public-Key
symmetric key cryptography because it is fast paced and Cryptographic Primitives in Wireless Sensor
easy to be operated. It does not include long piles of keys to Networks", IEEE Communications Surveys &
be compared individually. The private keys shared on both Tutorials, Vol. 18, Issue: 1, pp. 577-601, 2015.
ends help to easily encrypt and decrypt the message in an [11] Manju.V.C, “A Survey on Wireless Sensor Network
effective way.
Attacks”,International Journal of Engineering and
Innovative Technology (IJEIT), Volume 2, Issue 2,
pp. 23-28, August 2012.
5. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
[12] Peng Zhou, Siwei Jiang, Athirai Irissappane, Jie
The writers announce that there is no any conflict of Zhang, Jianying Zhou, Joseph Chee Ming Teo,
interests regarding the publication of this research report. "Toward Energy-Efficient Trust System Through
Watchdog Optimization for WSNs", IEEE
Transactions on Information Forensics and Security,
Vol. 10,Issue: 3, pp. 613-625, 2015
[13] Pankaj Pardesi and Jitender Grover, “Improved
Multiple Sink Placement Strategy in Wireless Sensor
Networks”, 2015 IEEE International Conference on
Futuristic Trends on computational Analysis and
Knowledge Management (A-BLAZE), Amity

4
 University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India,
DOI, pp. 418-424,
[14] Heejung Byun, Jungmin So, "Node Scheduling
Control Inspired by Epidemic Theory for Data
Dissemination in Wireless Sensor- Actuator
Networks With Delay Constraints", IEEE
Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol.15,
Issue: 3, pp. 1794-1807, 2015.
Daramola, J. O., Osamor, V.C and Oluwagbemi, A
[15] Grid-Based Framework for Pervasive Healthcare
Using WSNs: A case for Developing
Nations,Asian journal of Information Tech.,Vol.7,
No.6,2008,pp. 260-267.

5
 6. APPENDICES

QUESTIONNAIRE
Questions in the interviews
[1] Is it possible to make the wireless sensor networks completely secure?
a- Yes
b- No

[2] Do wireless sensor networks prone to security threats and attacks?

a- Yes
b- No

[3] What are the main type of identified challenges in wireless sensor networks related to your organization from
given below?
a- Network availability attacks
b- Authentication attacks
c- Service integrity attacks

[4] What is the best solution to the vulnerabilities of wireless sensor networks?
a- Physical security measures at nodes
b- Cryptography

[5] Is public key cryptography, a feasible technique for cryptography in WSNs?

a- Yes
b- No

[6] What is the best option of cryptography for WSNs?

a- Public key cryptography
b- Symmetric key cryptography

QUESTIONS ANSWERS SHEET

Answers for Questions

Company
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6
LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd. B A A B B B
Nations Trust Bank B A C B B B
Bank of Ceylon B A C B B B
Sri Lanka Customs B A C B B B
Mbrain Technologies B A A B B B
TTSL Lanka B A A B B B
Millennium Information Technologies B A A B B B
Overall Result B A Vary B B B