LMAC: A Lightweight Message Authentication Code for Wireless Sensor Network

Message authentication codes (MACs) are classically used for preventing unauthorized and corrupted messages from being forwarded in a network. However, inherent energy limitations of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) make the application of most of the state-of-the art MACs unaffordable due to their large computation overhead. Therefore in this paper, in order to cope with this challenging concern, we have proposed a lightweight hash based symmetric key message authentication code. The primary focus is on making the algorithm lightweight so that on using it in achieving secured communication in energy starved networks like WSNs, the resource constrained nodes can successfully run the algorithm. Detailed security analysis shows that LMAC also thwarts passive attack as well as active attack. Finally the comparative usability of the MAC in the said application domain is worked out and that shows the dominance of LMAC over several state-of-the-art MACs. We claim that on an average LMAC requires 61% less overhead compared to its competitors.