CAREER: Secure and Resilient Sensor Network Communication Infrastructure

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

CNS-0347807 CAREER: Secure and Resilient Sensor Network Communication Infrastructure Adrian Perrig Sensor networks provide solutions for many challenging problems, such as real-time safety monitoring of buildings or sensing of environmental pollutants. Attacks are often easy to launch in sensor networks---an attacker can easily eavesdrop on or inject wireless messages, or compromise sensors deployed in unsafe areas. Therefore, many sensor network applications require secure and attack resilient communication, especially sensor networks used to secure critical infrastructures. This research studies the problem of secure and attack-resilient communication in sensor networks. The result of this research is an easy-to-use secure communication infrastructure. This secure communication infrastructure will enable sensor network designers to construct secure and attack-resilient networks, without requiring security experts. The resulting sensor network will provide data secrecy (provide robustness against eavesdropping) and data authenticity (prevent message injection), provide resistance against malicious resource consumption attacks, and provide resistance against physical sensor node capture and compromise. This research will significantly impact sensor network research and sensor network deployments as it will greatly simplify building secure sensor network applications. Securing sensor networks used in critical infrastructures will significantly enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure to failures and malicious attacks.