Node capture attack impact on key management schemes for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Recently, it has been shown that heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSN) outperform homogeneous WSN. However, security is still the critical issue. In this paper, we study the impact of node capture attack on three key management schemes designed for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSN): asymmetric pre-distribution key management (AP scheme), HERO and TLA schemes. We formalize this impact as a function of the number of compromised nodes, then we define a breaking point as a threshold of this number. Based on this definition, we analyze the resistance of the key management protocols against node capture attack.