An efficient and scalable pairwise key pre-distribution scheme for sensor networks using deployment knowledge

Pairwise key establishment is a fundamental security service for sensor networks. However, establishing pairwise key in sensor networks is a challenging problem, particularly due to the resource constraints on sensor nodes and the threat of node compromises. On the other hand, adding new nodes to a sensor network is a fundamental requirement for their continuous operation over time, too. We analyze the weaknesses of security due to node capture when adding sensor nodes using key pre-distribution schemes with “fixed” key pools. In this paper, we propose a new approach, which separates the nodes into groups, the nodes in a group communicate with each other using pairwise keys pre-distributed, the communications between any two neighbor groups are accomplished also through pairwise keys, which is computed based on the pre-distributed Hash chain. We show that the performance (e.g. continuous connectivity, continuous network resilience against node capture and memory usage) of sensor networks can be substantially improved by using our scheme. The scheme and its detailed performance evaluation are presented.