Secure data aggregation and forwarding in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks WSNs consist of numerous low power sensor nodes with limited computing ability and storage capacity These sensor nodes sense events from the target field and transmit them to an external base station Data aggregation is carried out at the intermediate sensor nodes known as the aggregator nodes to summarize the redundant data and transmit the aggregated data to the base station Data aggregation significantly reduces the communication overhead and also results in better utilization of battery power Compromised sensor nodes can launch various attacks like false data injection Sybil attacks Denial of Service DoS attacks etc in WSNs The injection of false data disrupts the accuracy of the aggregated data and poses a serious threat to data integrity Moreover the transmission of false data to the base station depletes battery power unnecessarily leading to reduced network lifetime Hence false data elimination during data aggregation and forwarding is essential for providing security and effective utilization of battery power The security mechanisms developed for WSNs must take into consideration the resource and energy constraints of the sensor nodes newlineThis dissertation addresses the security issues pertaining to data aggregation and forwarding in WSNs Various schemes are proposed to provide secure data aggregation by eliminating the injected false data and to ensure confidential data transmission to the base station newline newline