A Review on Wireless Sensor Network Security

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 4 Issue 5, August 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD31815 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 5 | July-August 2020 Page 340
A Review on Wireless Sensor Network Security
Vijay Kumar Kalakar1, Hirdesh Chack2, Syed Tariq Ali1
1,2Lecturer, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication,
1Government Women’s Polytechnic College, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
2Government Polytechnic College, Jatara, Madhya Pradesh, India
ABSTRACT
Wireless sensor networks are attracting more and more coverage. A number
of surveillance, regulation, and tracking systems have been developed for
different scenarios in recent years. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an
emerging technology that shows great promise for various futuristic
applications both for mass public and military. The sensing technology
combined with processing power and wireless communication makes it
lucrative for being exploited in abundancein future. The inclusion ofwireless
communication technology also incurs various types of security threats. The
intent of this paper is to investigate the security related issues and challenges
in wireless sensor networks. We identifythe securitythreats,reviewproposed
security mechanisms for wireless sensor networks. We also discuss the
holistic view of security for ensuring layered and robust security in wireless
sensor networks.
KEYWORDS: Wireless sensor networks, Security, Attack, Holistic, Challenge
How to cite this paper: Vijay Kumar
Kalakar | Hirdesh Chack | Syed Tariq Ali
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I. INTRODUCTION
The Wireless Sensor Networks ( WSNs) can be defined as a
wireless, self-configured network without infrastructure,
which monitors physical, environmental and sound
conditions, temperature , vibration, pressures, movement
and pollutants and collectively transfers their information
via the network to a principal place or sink, where data can
be monitored and analyzed. A sink or base station acts as a
networking interface. By injecting queries and collecting
results from the sink, you can get the required information
from the network [1, 2].
Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are an ad hoc network
system where resource-contracted sensor nodes are usedto
track and manage functions of a specific type. One or more
detection units, a single processor, a memory, a
communication element and a power source comprise a
typical configuration of the sensor nodes. These sensors are
then used to calculate a certain physical magnitude from the
surrounding environment [3, 4].
In general, hundreds of thousands of sensor nodules in a
wireless sensor network. Radio signals may be used to
contact the sensor nodes. A wireless node has sensor and
computing equipment, radio transceivers and control
supplies [5]. The resource limitations of individualnodesina
wireless sensor network (WSN) are limited: there is little
speed of transmission, storage space and bandwidth of
communication. After the sensor nodes are installed, they
often coordinate themselves through multi-shop
connectivity to an effective network infrastructure. And
onboard sensors begin to capture useful details. Wireless
sensor devices also respond to "control site" queries to
provide sensing samples or to perform specific directives.
Whether constant or event controlled operation modeofthe
sensor nodes is feasible. For geographic details and
positioning purposes, global positioning system (GPS) and
local positioning algorithms may be used [1, 4].
Figure1. Wireless sensor network.
IJTSRD31815

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
The interaction between sensors takes place with wireless transceivers in the case of a wireless sensor network. Numerous
scholars focused on different problems relevant to these forms of networks owing to the enticing characteristics of wireless
sensor networks. Although routing approaches and the simulation of wireless sensors for networks are becoming a major
concern, the safety issues are not yet completely addressed. Throughout this article, we address protection concerns and
threats for wireless sensor networks of the next decade and explore the main criteria for comprehensive analysis [7].
II. STRUCTURE OF A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK
The Wireless Sensor Network structure consists of different radio communications networktopologies.Thefollowingisashort
discussion of the network topologies applicable to wireless sensor networks [5, 6]:
Star network (Single point-to – multipoint)
A star network isa topology forcommunication thatcan be sent and/or received from a single station tocertainremotenodes.
You cannot send messages to each other via remote nodes. This form of network has the benefit of being quick, enabling the
remote node to retain a minimal energy consumption. Low latency communication between the remote node and the base
station is also possible. The downside of such a network is that it needs to be inside the radio propagation spectrum of all
specific nodes and not as reliable as other networks because of the need to control the network on a single node.
Mesh Network
A mesh network can transmit data to a nodewithin the radio transmission range ofa network. Thisenableswhatisregardedas
multi-hop contact, i.e., to be done by an intermediary node where a node wants to transmita message toanothernodewhichis
not inside the radio transmission range. Redundancy and scalability benefit from this network topology. If a node fails, any
other node within its rangecan still be communicated by a distance node, whichcan transmission the message to therequired
place.
Hybrid Star-Mesh Network
A hybrid between the star and the mesh network offers the communication network to be robust and versatile whilst
maintaining the ability to minimize the power consumption of wireless sensors. The lowest power sensor nodes are not
capable of forwarding messages in this network topology. This ensures a minimum energy consumption. However, there are
other nodes in the network that can be transferred from low power nodes to other nodes on the network with multihop
capabilities [8].
III. STRUCTURE OF A WIRELESS SENSOR NODE
Four fundamentalcomponents suchas the sensor unit, processor unit, transceiver unit and power unit shown inthefigureare
presented at a sensor Node. There are additional components dependent on applications such as a location search system, a
power generator and a mobilizer. Two sub-units: sensors,and digitalconverter analog (ADCs) are usually made up of sensing
units [9].
Figure 2 Components of a sensor node

Figure 3 Functional block diagram of a sensor node
The sensors convert analog signals into digital signals through ADC and then relay them intothetreatmentunit.Theprocessing
unit is usually linked to a small storage unit andcan manage the processes by which the sensor node workswithothernodesto
perform tasks. The network node is attached to a transceiver array. The control generator is one of the key components of a
sensor node. A power-scavenging unit, such as solar cells, can support power units. The remaining sub-units of the node
depend on the application [10].
IV. SECURITY ISSUES IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK
Many security risks and assaults in wireless networks are much like their wired equivalent, though others have wireless
networking included. Wireless networks are generally more vulnerable to differentsecuritythreatssincetheunguidedmedium
is more vulnerable to safety attacks than the guided medium. A simple eavesdropper candidate is the radio nature ofwireless
communication. In most cases, different security issues and threats associated with the wireless ad-hoc networks that we
consider also apply to wireless sensor networks.
While the ad-hoc networks are self-organized, decentralized topology, the peer-to - peer networks that comprise a group of
mobile nodes and the centralized entity is not available; the networks witha wireless sensor may include a command node or
base station (central entity often referred to as a sink). Thebigchallenge, however, is caused by theresourcelimitationofsmall
sensors [7, 8].
WSNs are vulnerable against so many attacks. Attackers can attack the radio transmission; add their own data bits to the
channel, replay old packets and any other type of attack. A secure network ought to support all security properties. Attackers
may deploy some malicious nodes in the network with similar capabilities as of normal node or may overwrite the memoryof
normal deployed node by capturing them.
Attacks in wireless sensor network are shown in Figure 4. They are roughly categorized as follows: A) Based on Routing B)
Based on Capability C) Based on Protocol Layer.
Figure 4 Attack classification in WSN

4.1. Based on Capability
The attacks can be categorized on the basis of the source of
the attacks i.e. Internal or External, and on the behavior of
the attack i.e. Passive or Active attack. This classification is
important because the attacker can exploit the network
either as internal, external or/ as well as active or passive
attack against the network.
External attackers are mainly outside the networks who
want to getaccess to the network and once they getaccessto
the network they start sending bogus packets, denial of
service in order to disrupt the performance of the whole
network. This attack is same, like the attacks that are made
against wired network. These attacks can be prevented by
implementing security measures suchasfirewall, where the
access of unauthorized person to the network can be
mitigated.
While in internal attack the attacker wants to have normal
access to the network as well as participate in the normal
activities of the network. The attacker gain access in the
network as new node either by compromising a current
node in the network or by malicious impersonationandstart
its malicious behavior. Internal attack ismore severeattacks
then external attacks.
When the attacker disrupts the performance of the network,
steal important information and try to destroy the data
during the exchange in the network. Active attacks can an
internal or an external attack. The active attacks are meant
to destroy the performance of network in such case the
active attack act as internal node in the network.
Being an active part of the network it is easy for the node to
exploit and hijack any internal node to use it to introduce
bogus packets injection or denial of service. This attack
brings the attacker in strong position where attacker can
modify, fabricate and replays the massages. Attackers in
passive attacks do not disrupt the normal operations of the
network. In Passive attack, the attacker listen to network in
order to get information, what is going on in the network? It
listens to the network in order to know and understandhow
the nodes are communicatingwith each other, how they are
located in the network. Before the attacker launch an attack
against the network, the attacker has enough information
about the network that it can easily hijack and inject attack
in the network.
4.2. Based on Protocol Layer
WSN is divided into different layers. The working of each
layer is different. The attacks on the basis of protocol layers
are explained below:
A. Physical Layer
Physical layer is used for transmitting information in raw
bits over the wireless or wired medium. It is easy to jam a
common radio signal. In general, physical layer attacks are
categorized as: Eavesdropping, Tampering and Jamming. In
eavesdropping attack, an unauthorized receiver reads the
messages. Jammingattack implements underDoSattack.Itis
the interference with the radio frequency used by the
network nodes. This completely changes the working of
network.
B. Link Layer
Data link layer is utilized to ensure the proper
communication on physical layer between nodes. This layer
is incharge ofmultiplexing, error detection, packetscollision
prevention, repeated transmission of data and so on. Link-
layer threats include collisions, interrogation, and packet
replay. Error detection and correcting codes can be used to
decrease the number of collisions but due to this the routing
overhead in the network is increased. Another connection
layer danger to WSNs is the denial-of-sleep attack, in which
node is unable to go to into the sleep mode. This decreases
the whole network lifetime.
C. Network Layer
For the data routing between nodes, nodes to sink, node to
BS, node to CH, and vice versa, this layer is responsible. A
direct attack on Routing protocols by the attackers can have
impact on network data traffic, indulge themselves into the
data path between the source and destination, and by this
control the data flow. Thisinfers that effective and powerful
routing protocols are required to manage node failure and
security attacks. Some routing protocol attacks are:
wormhole attacks, acknowledgement spoofing, selective
forwarding, black holes and so forth.
D. Transport Layer
Transport Layer isutilized to build upa communication link
for outer sensor network joined with the internet. This can
be considered as the most complex issue in WSNs. Attacksof
the transport layer protocol are flooding and
desynchronization. Flooding attack is used to deplete the
node's memory by sending numerous requests for
connection establishment. In the de-synchronization attack,
the attacker node forges packets to at least one or both ends
of a connection using different sequence numbers on the
packets. In this way, host requests for retransmission of the
missed packet frames.
V. SECURITY PROTOCOLS IN SENSOR NETWORKS
Cryptography isa basic technique to achieve thesecurityina
network. This establishesa secure relationshipbetweentwo
end points. In this, sender encrypts the original data and
receiver decrypts the received data to obtain an original
data. Different types of keys are used in the process of
cryptography. The various protocols that are proposed by
different authors for solving the security issue in WSN are:
A. SPINs
SPIN (Sensor Protocols for Information via Negotiation)
protocol works in three steps. First, a node advertises the
ADV packet containing the metadata. If the received node is
interested in the data then it sends the request fordatausing
REQ packet. Finally, the advertiser node after receiving
request sends the DATA packet to the requestor node. It
performs best in small size networks because ofitsefficiency
and high latency properties. Typical SPIN consists of two
secure building blocks named as μTESLA (Timed Efficient
Stream Loss-tolerant Authentication) and SNEP (Sensor
Network Encryption Protocol).
SNEP provides confidentiality, authentication and integrity.
It uses the concept of encryption. To authenticate the data,
MAC (Message authentication Code) is used. It adds 8 bytes
to the message. To reduce the communication overhead,
SNEP uses a shared counter between sender node and

receiver node. After each block counter gets incremented.
Counter helps in identifying the freshness of data. In TESLA,
digital signatures are used to authenticate the data packet.
Sink node computes a MAC on the packet after receiving the
packet with the secret key to send an authenticated packet
back to source. After receiving a packet, node confirms that
the sink does not disclose the computed MAC key to other
nodes. With this, receiving node assures that data packet is
original and no alterations are done in the packet.
B. LEAP
LEAP (Localized Encryptionand Authentication Protocol)is
a protocol with key management scheme that is very
efficient with its security mechanisms used for large scale
distributed sensor networks. It generally supports forinside
network processing such as data aggregation. In-network
processing results in reduction of the energyconsumptionin
network. To provide the confidentiality and authentication
to the data packet, LEAP uses multiple keys mechanism. For
each node four keys are used knownas individual, pair wise,
cluster and group key. All are symmetric keys and use as
follows:
 Individual Key: It is the unique key used for the
communication between source node and thesinknode.
 Pair wise Key: It is shared with another sensor nodes.
 Cluster Key: It is used for locally broadcast messages
and shares it between the node and all its surrounding
neighboring nodes.
 Group Key: globally shared key used by all the network
nodes
These keys can also be used by other non-secured protocols
to increase the network security. LEAP is satisfies several
security and performance requirements of WSN. LEAP is
used to defend against HELLO Floods Attack, Sybil Attack
and Wormhole Attack.
C. TINYSEC
TINYSEC is link layer security architecture for WSNs. It is a
lightweight protocol. It supports integrity, confidentiality
and authentication. Toachieve confidentiality, encryptionis
done by using CBC (Cipher-blockchaining)modewithcipher
text stealing, and authentication is done using CBC-MAC. No
counters are used in TINYSEC. Hence, it doesn’t check the
data freshness. Authorized senders and receivers share a
secret key to compute a MAC. TINYSEC has two different
security options. One is for authenticated and encrypted
messages (TinySec-AE) and another is for authenticated
messages (TinySec-Auth).In TinySec-AE, the data payloadis
encrypted and the received data packet isauthenticatedwith
a MAC. In TinySec-Auth mode, the entire packet is
authenticated with a MAC, but on the other hand the data
payload is not encrypted.
In CBC, Initialization Vector (IV) is used to achieve semantic
security. Some of the messages are same with only little
variation. In that case IV adds the variation to the encrypted
process. To decrypt the message receiver must use the IV.
IVs are not secret and are included in the same packet with
the encrypted data.
D. ZIGBEE
ZIGBEEisa typicalwireless communication technology. Itis
used in various applications such as military security, home
automation and environment monitoring. IEEE 802.15.4isa
standard used for ZIGBEE. It supports data confidentiality
and integrity. To implement the security mechanismZIGBEE
uses 128 bit keys. A trust center is used in ZIGBEE which
authenticates and allows other devices/nodes to join the
network and also distribute the keys. Generally, ZIGBEE
coordinator performs this function. Three different roles in
ZIGBEE are:
 Trust Manager: It authenticates the devices which are
requesting to join the network.
 Network Manager: It manages the network keys and
helps to maintain and distribute the network keys.
 Configuration Manager: It configures the security
mechanism and enables end-to-end security between
devices.
VI. HOLISTIC SECURITY IN WIRELESS SENSOR
NETWORKS
A holistic approach aims at improving the performance of
wireless sensor networks with respect to security, longevity
and connectivity under changing environmental conditions.
The holistic approach of security concerns about involving
all the layers for ensuring overall security in a network. For
such a network, a single security solution for a single layer
might not bean efficient solution rather employing a holistic
approach could be the best option.
The holistic approach has some basic principles like, in a
given network; security is to be ensured for all the layers of
the protocol stack, the cost for ensuring security should not
surpass the assessed security risk at a specific time, if there
is no physical security ensured for the sensors, the security
measures must be able to exhibit a graceful degradation if
some of the sensors in the network are compromised, out of
order or captured by the enemy and the security measures
should be developed to work in a decentralized fashion. If
security is not considered for all of the security layers, for
example; if a sensor is somehow captured or jammed in the
physical layer, the security for the overall network breaks
despite the fact that, there are some efficient security
mechanisms working in other layers. By building security
layers as in the holistic approach, protection could be
established for the overall network.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
This paper emphasizes the WSN's safety issue. Safety in the
network sensor is the major challenge. Safe contact is
needed for some applications such as the military. Certain
security requirements must be met for a secure
communication network. Centered on different criteria, this
paper discusses security risks. Specificprocedureshavebeen
developed to satisfy the safety requirements.
In many mission-critical applications, the wireless sensor
networks continue to grow and become widely utilized.
Therefore, the need for protection is paramount. The
wireless sensor network, however, suffers from several
limitations including low energy levels, processing and
storage, unreliable communication and unattended
operation, etc. However, it is a major research challenge to
develop and make this detection mechanism efficient.Again,
ensuring holistic security in wireless sensor network is a
major research issue. Many of todays proposed security
schemes are based on specific network models. As a
collective attempt to follow a specific model to guarantee
each layer’s protection is not feasible, in the future, the

development of security protocols for each layer would lead
to a challenging investigation integrating all procedures for
each layer in partnership.
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