ZoneTrust: Fast Zone-Based Node Compromise Detection and Revocation in Sensor Networks Using Sequential Analysis

Due to the unattended nature of wireless sensor networks, an adversary can physically capture and compromise sensor nodes and then mount a variety of attacks with these compromised nodes. To minimize the damage incurred by compromised nodes, the system should detect and revoke them as soon as possible. To meet this need, we propose a zone-based node compromise detection and revocation scheme in sensor networks. The main idea of the proposed scheme is to use the sequential hypothesis testing to detect suspect regions in which compromised nodes are likely placed. In these suspect regions, the network operator performs software attestation against sensor nodes, leading to the detection and revocation of the compromised nodes. Through analysis and simulation, we show that the proposed scheme provides effective and robust node compromise detection and revocation capability with little overhead.