Efficient Group Key Transfer Protocol for WSNs

Special designs are needed for cryptographic schemes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This is because sensor nodes are limited in memory storage and computational power. The existing group key transfer protocols for WSNs using classical secret sharing require that a t-degree interpolating polynomial be computed in order to encrypt and decrypt the secret group key. This approach is too computationally intensive. In this paper, we propose a new group key transfer protocol using a linear secret sharing scheme and factoring assumption. The proposed protocol can resist potential attacks and also significantly reduce the computation complexity of the system while maintaining low communication cost. Such a scheme is desirable for secure group communications in WSNs, where portable devices or sensors need to reduce their computation as much as possible due to battery power limitations.