Jamming for good: a fresh approach to authentic communication in WSNs

While properties of wireless communications are often considered as a disadvantage from a security perspective, this work demonstrates how multipath propagation, a broadcast medium, and frequency jamming can be used as valuable security primitives. Instead of conventional message authentication by receiving, verifying, and then discarding fake data, sensor nodes are prevented from receiving fake data at all. The erratic nature of signal propagation distributes the jamming activity over the network which hinders an adversary in predicting jamming nodes and avoids selective battery-depletion attacks. By conducting real-world measurements, we justify the feasibility of such a security design and provide details on implementing it within a realistic wireless sensor network. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.2.1 [Computer-Communication Networks]: Network Architecture and Design—Wireless communication General Terms Design, Security, Performance Keywords Wireless Sensor Networks, Authen...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: WISEC
• Authors: Ivan Martinovic, Paul Pichota, Jens B. Schmitt
• Keywords: Fake Data, Valuable Security Primitives, Wireless Network, Wireless Sensor Networks, WISEC 2009