Flexible key exchange negotiation for wireless sensor networks

ABSTRACT

Despite recent improvements of the capabilities of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) nodes, network protocol support for key management is still lagging behind. While in traditional networks well known protocol suites (e.g., IPsec IKE and the TLS handshake), are commonly used for flexible negotiation of the cryptographic and key exchange protocols, to the best of our knowledge no similar support has been provided for the same operation in WSNs. The goal of this paper is therefore threefold. We discuss the design of a flexible security negotiation protocol for WSNs, and we suggest to adapt TLS handshake ideas to obtain maximum flexibility. We design and implement a security association set up protocol, tailored to the resource constraints and limits of WSN nodes. Finally, we run an experimental assessment of this protocol operations in support of RSA key transport, Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman key agreement, and Identity Based Encryption key agreement.

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Index Terms

• Networks

  • Network protocols

• Security and privacy

  • Cryptography

  • Systems security

    • Operating systems security