Handbook on Array Processing and Sensor Networks

CHAPTER 28

Security and Privacy for Sensor Networks

Wade Trappe¹, Peng Ning², and Adrian Perrig³

¹Rutgers University, North Brunswick, New Jersey

²North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

³Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

28.1 INTRODUCTION

Remote sensing applications are becoming an increasingly important area for research and development due to the critical need for applications that will perform environmental monitoring, provide security assurance, assist in health-care services, and facilitate factory automation. Over the past decade there has been a concerted effort to develop networks of sensors that can monitor different phenomena and drive these remote sensing applications. The sensors in the sensor network make measurements, such as local temperature or barometric pressure, and communicate this data with appropriate applications via the sensor network.

Unfortunately, these sensor systems are typically deployed in unattended environments, without explicit forms of physical protection. As a result, providing security mechanisms for sensor networks is of critical importance since sensors will ultimately be used to assist in our daily lives. Since sensor systems involve applications connected to a network of devices that monitor physical phenomena, there is a broad array of threats that may be posed against sensor applications. These attacks may range from threats ...