A REVIEW OF SECURITY IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be defined as self-configured and infrastructure-free wireless networks to track physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, strain, motion or pollutants, and to transmit their data to a main location or sink where the data can be observed and processed in a cooperative manner across the network. A sink or base station serves as an interface between the network and users. By inserting queries and collecting responses from the drain, one can obtain the necessary data from the network. It is becoming important that this information be secured because of the sensitive nature of the data obtained by many wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, conventional wireless networking security technologies are not feasible because of the finite nature of the tools available on sensor nodes due to their computing needs, power usage, speed and overhead communications. We assess the risks and attacks posed by WSNs and then review and evaluate the existing state of the art of dedicated WSN security protocols, reflecting on their respective strengths and shortcomings.