Data protection in multipath WSNs

Abstract

Used in areas such as pollution measurement or data gathering over battlefields, wireless sensor networks have attracted more and more attention over the last years. The deployment of such a network is accompanied by several security issues, including data confidentiality. Robust encryption algorithms addressed to network communication exist, but they do not always match the low resources restrictions — low processor, memory, limited energy — set upon the sensors. To overcome this, other, simpler solutions have been proposed, such as the Securing Data based on Multi-Path routing method, or an application of the Shamir's Secret Sharing Scheme, which both use distinct paths in the network to send pieces of data obtained by splitting the original message. This paper addresses the two methods named above, and proposes a solution based on traffic classification, using alternatively the Securing Data based on Multi-Path routing method, the Shamir's Secret Sharing Scheme, and strong encryption algorithms.