Title: Multilayer key establishment for large-scale sensor networks

Authors: Panayiotis Kotzanikolaou, Dimitris D. Vergados, Giannis Stergiou, Emmanouil Magkos

Addresses: Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, GR-18534, Greece. ' Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, Samos GR-832 00, Greece. ' Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, Samos GR-832 00, Greece. ' Department of Informatics, Ionian University, Corfu GR-49100, Greece

Abstract: Research on key establishment for Distributed Sensor Networks (DSNs) focuses on lightweight protocols that are feasible for the sensor nodes, which by default have restricted capabilities. Although the most efficient protocols for key establishment are based on symmetric key encryption, these protocols are unable to provide adequate security against attacks, such as node impersonation and fake generation attacks. For this reason, several hybrid key establishment protocols have been developed, making limited use of public key cryptography and more particularly of Elliptic Curve Cryptography. However, although these protocols seem to be efficient for sensor nodes, they reduce performance, especially in large-scale networks. In this paper, we propose a multilayer key establishment protocol for DSNs, which combines hybrid and symmetric key establishment techniques. The performance analysis shows a reasonable decrease in performance, due to the optimised use of expensive public-key cryptographic operations.

Keywords: distributed sensor networks; DSNs; security; key establishment; node impersonation; fake generation attacks; public key; cryptography.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSN.2008.016197

International Journal of Security and Networks, 2008 Vol.3 No.1, pp.1 - 9

Published online: 09 Dec 2007 *

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