J4 ›› 2010, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (2): 305-310+325.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-2400.2010.02.022

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Practical broadcast authentication protocol for sensor networks

DU Zhi-qiang1;SHEN Yu-long2;MA Jian-feng1;ZHOU Li-hua1   

  1. (1. School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian Univ., Xi'an  710071, China;
    2. Ministry of Education Key Lab. of Computer Network and Information Security, Xidian Univ., Xi'an  710071, China)
  • Received:2008-12-16 Online:2010-04-20 Published:2010-06-03
  • Contact: DU Zhi-qiang E-mail:zqdu@mti.xidian.edu.cn

Abstract:

Broadcast authentication is one of the most important security primitive services in Sensor Networks. With more and more senders in a network, costs of Tree-based μTESLA are rising rapidly, which limits strictly the scale of networks employing it. Aiming at eliminating such a limit, this paper presents a μTPCT-based broadcasting authentication protocol which mainly rests on constructions of μTPC(μTESLA Parameters Hash Chain) and μTPCT(μTPC Merkle Hash Tree). Analysis and experiments have shown that our proposed protocol not only possesses both excellent resistance to DoS attacks against the distribution of μTESLA parameters and the ability to revoke authenticating capabilities of compromised nodes instantly, but also greatly outperforms the Tree-based μTESLA by largely reducing the cost of computation, communication, and storage needed, making it more applicable to large-scale sensor networks.

Key words: wireless sensor networks, broadcast authentication, network security, μTESLA