Secured Cluster-Based Distributed Dynamic Group Key Management for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Key management (KM) can be thought of as a process which assures security in various networking scenarios. It also supports establishment, revocation, and maintenance of keys among various interacting parties. Computing or generating a common secret value and distributing it among network sensor nodes is a significant goal. This key, which is called group key or conference key (CK), serves the purpose of encrypting/decrypting messages. Numerous applications are designed and recommended of wireless sensor networks to improve the security level through KM methods. A group key management (GKMP) is a process or a protocol where a shared group key is established for multiple sessions, between the cluster head and sensor nodes in a network clustering environment. The common use of this established group key (also termed as conference key) is to permit users to encrypt and decrypt particular broadcasted message that is meant for the total user group. So, without worrying, a group member can collaborate with other members about information disclosure. In this research work, existing group key management schemes have been investigated and the researcher proposes a cluster-based dynamic group key management protocol that is based on public key cryptography. A novel, dynamic, and practically applicable group key transfer protocol is proposed to offer secure communication in the network. Security analysis and computation complexity of the proposed work have also been investigated using a discrete event network simulator NS2. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of GKMP in resource-constrained WSNs.