Skip to main content

On Active Attacks on Sensor Network Key Distribution Schemes

  • Conference paper
Algorithmic Aspects of Wireless Sensor Networks (ALGOSENSORS 2009)

Abstract

This paper concerns sensor network key distribution schemes (KDS) based on symmetric-key techniques. We analyze the problem of active attacks against such schemes. By active attacks we mean those attacks, where the adversary can maliciously disturb the communication between the sensors. We observe that the active adversary that captured even a small number of sensors, can anyway get a full control over the network, no matter how strong the KDS is. Therefore we conclude that the best scheme in this context is the one based on the method of Blöm (1984) (which guarantees perfect secrecy of the keys, as long as the number of corrupted sensors is small).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bellare, M., Desai, A., Jokipii, E., Rogaway, P.: A concrete security treatment of symmetric encryption. In: FOCS 1997, p. 394 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Blom, R.: An optimal class of symmetric key generation systems. In: Beth, T., Cot, N., Ingemarsson, I. (eds.) EUROCRYPT 1984. LNCS, vol. 209, pp. 335–338. Springer, Heidelberg (1985)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Chan, H., Perrig, A., Song, D.: Random key predistribution schemes for sensor networks. In: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (May 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Du, W., Deng, J., Han, Y.S., Varshney, P.K., Katz, J., Khalili, A.: A pairwise key pre-distribution scheme for wireless sensor networks. ACM Transactions on Information and System Security 8(2), 228–258 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dziembowski, S., Mei, A., Panconesi, A.: On active attacks on sensor network key distribution schemes. full version of this paper (to appear)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Eschenauer, L., Gligor, V.D.: A key-management scheme for distributed sensor networks. In: ACM CCS 2002, pp. 41–47 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heidemann, J., Silva, F., Intanagonwiwat, C., Govindan, R., Estrin, D., Ganesan, D.: Building efficient wireless sensor networks with low-level naming. In: SOSP 2001, pp. 146–159. ACM, New York (2001)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Karlof, C., Wagner, D.: Secure routing in wireless sensor networks: attacks and countermeasures. Ad Hoc Networks 1(2-3), 293–315 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Katz, J., Lindell, Y.: Introduction to Modern Cryptography. Chapman & Hall/Crc Cryptography and Network Security Series. Chapman & Hall/ CRC (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Neuman, B.C., Ts’o, T.: Kerberos: An authentication service for computer networks. IEEE Communications 32(9), 33–38 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Newsome, J., Shi, E., Song, D., Perrig, A.: The sybil attack in sensor networks: analysis & defenses. In: IPSN 2004, pp. 259–268. ACM, New York (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Parno, B., Perrig, A., Gligor, V.: Distributed detection of node replication attacks in sensor networks. In: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, pp. 49–63 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Pietro, R.D., Mancini, L.V., Mei, A.: Energy efficient node-to-node authentication and communication confidentiality in wireless sensor networks. Wirel. Netw. 12(6), 709–721 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Silberstein, A., Yang, J.: Many-to-many aggregation for sensor networks. In: IEEE 23rd International Conference on Data Engineering, 2007. ICDE 2007, pp. 986–995 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zhu, S., Xu, S., Setia, S., Jajodia, S.: Establishing pairwise keys for secure communication in ad hoc networks: A probabilistic approach. In: ICNP 2003, p. 326 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dziembowski, S., Mei, A., Panconesi, A. (2009). On Active Attacks on Sensor Network Key Distribution Schemes. In: Dolev, S. (eds) Algorithmic Aspects of Wireless Sensor Networks. ALGOSENSORS 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5804. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05434-1_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05434-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05433-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-05434-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics