Scatter – secure code authentication for efficient reprogramming in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Currently proposed solutions to secure code dissemination in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) involve the use of expensive public-key digital signatures. In this work, we present Scatter, a secure code dissemination protocol that enables sensor nodes to authenticate the program image efficiently. To achieve this, we use a scheme that offers source authentication in the group setting like a public-key signature scheme, but with signature and verification times much closer to those of a MAC (message authentication code). In this way, Scatter avoids the use of elliptic curve cryptography and manages to surpass all previous attempts for secure code dissemination in terms of energy consumption, memory and time efficiency. Besides the design and theoretical analysis of the protocol, we also report the experimental evaluation of Scatter in two different hardware platforms, Mica2 and MicaZ, which proves its efficiency in practice.