A Resource Perspective to Wireless Sensor Network Security

The challenges thrown by wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are unique given their delicate architecture and scant resources. Even though security for wireless networks has been a widely researched area for many decades, security for WSNs is still a major roadblock for their efficiency and performance. This is due to the tussle of how much resources can be expended for security in proportion to the sensor application. The current security perspective for WSNs is on a per-attack basis, which creates an inflexible model resulting in poor efficiency and scalability. The work presented in this paper is the first step in creating a security framework offering high flexibility, good scalability and a redundancy-free security layer for the WSN protocol stack. The proposed framework is based on a resource perspective when deciding security solutions, where solutions are designed to secure each resource in the WSN environment, rather than defend against attacks. Also discussed in this paper are the advantages and preliminary implementation ideas for the proposed framework.