Title: Clique-based group key assignment in Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Avinash Srinivasan, Feng Li, Jie Wu, Minglu Li

Addresses: Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, USA. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China

Abstract: Security has become the corner stone of research in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Watchdog-based-monitoring systems require pairwise-connectivity of group-members to avoid information asymmetry attacks. Existing group-key protocols in literature don|t address this requirement. Although, pairwise-key protocols resolve this drawback, they are highly restrictive and impose substantial storage overhead. Additionally, messages encrypted with pairwise-keys render monitoring systems useless. In this paper, we propose CAGE – a novel, distributed, clique-based group-key protocol that strikes an optimal balance between pairwise-key and group-key protocols. We then present E-CAGE, an improvisation of CAGE that mitigates computation-time to achieve the same results as CAGE.

Keywords: clique; clustering; group key assignment; reputation; security; WSNs; wireless sensor networks; trust; wireless networks; pairwise keys; group keys.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSN.2008.020730

International Journal of Security and Networks, 2008 Vol.3 No.4, pp.226 - 239

Published online: 12 Oct 2008 *

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