Light Weight Security Architecture for Cluster Based Wireless Sensor Networks

Recent technological advancements and increasing potential applications have led to the use of Wireless Sensor Networks in various fields. Since the sensor nodes are usually deployed in places where there is no human surveillance, these networks are highly vulnerable to various security threats. The memory, power and processing constraints of the sensor nodes pose challenges to developing efficient security algorithms. Although many cryptographic techniques have been proposed to mitigate outside attacks, the securing of networks against inside attacks has not been addressed effectively. In this paper, a novel security system has been proposed to address the overall security requirement for Wireless Sensor Networks. Defense against outside attacks is provided using a cluster-based authentication and key management scheme using Elliptic Curve Cryptography, while inside attacks are taken care by a Hybrid Intrusion Detection System using Bayesian probabilistic model for decision making. The simulation results show the overall effectiveness of the proposed scheme, revealing better performance in terms of resilience to outside attacks, memory capacity, energy efficiency and false alarm rate.