Effect of wormhole attack in hierarchical body area network and need for strict security measures

Wireless Body Area Network is an emerging technology in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for various applications in healthcare, entertainment, defense etc., In Body Area Network, sensors are used to monitor the human´s activities and their actions like health parameters of patients. Therefore, it is essential to secure the privacy of the user´s information which is collected by the sensors from the body of the user. This paper is aimed at emphasizing the need for improved and novel security measurement in a BAN. In this work, an analogous network has been simulated using Qualnet 5.0.Initially the sensed data from the patient´s home is routed to the hospital server through wireless network which is exposed to wormhole attack and the results are obtained. Later ISKAMP security protocol has been employed as a security measure over the sensed data and the results are obtained. We arrive at the need for strict security measures to secure the privacy and confidentiality of the secure data.