Virtual Energy Based Encryption & Keying on Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

Since the secure communication for Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs) is a challenging problem because sensors are resources limited and cost is the most dominant factor in a energy consumption, for this we introduce an energy-efficient Virtual Energy-Based Encryption and Keying(VEBEK) scheme for WSNs that reduces the number of transmission needed for rekeying the packets. VEBEK is a secure communication framework where sensed data is encoded by a RC4 encryption mechanism based on a permutation code generator. In the RC4 encryption mechanism keys changes dynamically as a function of the residual virtual energy of the sensor. Thus, one-time dynamic key is employed for one packet only and different keys for different packets. VEBEK unbundles key generation from other security services, namely authentication, integrity, non-repudiation. VEBEK is able to efficiently detect & filter false data injected by malicious outsiders. The VEBEK framework consists of two operational modes (VEBEK-1 and VEBEK-2). Our results show that VEBEK, without incurring transmission overhead is able to eliminate malicious data from the network in an energy efficient manner. Keywords- Authentication, Integrity, Non-Repudiation, RC4, Rekeying, VEBEK, WSNs.