A Proactive Data Security Framework for Mission-Critical Sensor Networks

The resource-constrained sensors in mission-critical applications are subject to both random failures and intentional compromise, which poses severe security threats in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The different types of security threats have been identified and addressed in an individual manner in the past. In this paper, we argue that cryptography alone is insufficient to fully address the insider attacks in the existence of both the compromised and faulty sensor nodes. We further propose a proactive data security framework (PDSF) to identify compromised and faulty nodes proactively and prohibit them from participating network activities in a dynamic manner. The rationale behind our approach is that a sensor's future behavior can be predicted (at least) probabilistically by its past behavior. PDSF is divided into two key modules, that is, misbehavior characterization & monitoring, and trust management. PDSF characterizes different types of misbehavior in WSNs and defines a set of monitoring criteria. PDSF also develops a trust management model, which adapts to the resource constrained nature of the WSNs