Using deceptive packets to increase base-station anonymity in wireless sensor network

In wireless sensor networks, nodes probe ambient conditions in their surrounding and report back to the base-station via multi-hop routing. In a hostile environment the network may be subject to adversary attacks. Given the role that the base-station plays, it can be targeted in order to inflict the most damage to the network. Although stealth design and other physical precautionary measures may be pursued to hide the base-station, the fact that the base-station acts as a sink of all data transmission enables an adversary to employ traffic analysis techniques and identify the location of the base-station. This paper presents a novel approach for countering such traffic analysis and boosting the anonymity of the base-station. Sensors in low activity areas will send out deceptive packets among each other in order to distract the attention of the adversary and make the traffic analysis inconclusive. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the approach.