Defending DoS attacks on broadcast authentication in wireless sensor networks

Xiaojiang Du, Yang Xiao, Mohsen Guizani, Hsiao Hwa Chen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

80 Scopus citations

Abstract

Security is critical for wireless sensor networks deployed in military, homeland security and other hostile environments. In this paper, we study a security issue related with broadcast in sensor networks. Due to the broadcast nature of wireless communications, often it is more efficient to broadcast packets to sensor nodes. Typically, broadcast authentication is achieved by digital signatures. Since digital signature operations are expensive for small sensor nodes, an attacker can launch a serious Denial of Service (DoS) attack. That is, an attacker may forge a large number of broadcast messages with digital signatures, and then force sensor nodes to verify these signatures, which can cause them run out of power. In this paper, we present an effective and efficient scheme that can defend such DoS attack on broadcast authentication. Our performance evaluation shows that the scheme is much more secure and efficient than an existing scheme.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationICC 2008 - IEEE International Conference on Communications, Proceedings
Pages1653-1657
Number of pages5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
EventIEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2008 - Beijing, China
Duration: 19 May 200823 May 2008

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Communications
ISSN (Print)0536-1486

Conference

ConferenceIEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2008
Country/TerritoryChina
CityBeijing
Period19/05/0823/05/08

Keywords

  • Authentication
  • Broadcast
  • DoS attacks
  • Security
  • Sensor networks

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