Secure data aggregation with homomorphic primitives in wireless sensor networks: A critical survey and open research issues

Abstract

In wireless sensor networks, data aggregation plays an important role in energy conservation of sensors. However, these networks are typically deployed in hostile environments and in which privacy and data integrity are widely desired. Because of their design, wireless sensors can be easily captured. Also, nodes that perform the aggregation function are most attractive to attackers. Therefore, in order to deal with these security threats, the research on data aggregation security is essential. In this context, several solutions have been proposed to secure data aggregation in sensor networks, based on several encryption techniques. Among these, there is the homomorphic encryption. Compared to other techniques, in homomorphic encryption all the sensor nodes participate in the aggregation, without seeing any intermediate or final result, while still maintaining an effective and efficient aggregation process. In this paper, we present a survey of some secure data aggregation schemes that use homomorphic encryption properties, and then we compared them based on some criteria. Finally, we present and discuss some open issues that need to be looked in future studies in order to improve the security of data aggregation in wireless sensor networks.