Attackers in Wireless Sensor Networks Will Be Neither Random nor Jumping - Secrecy Amplification Case (CANS 2016)

Authors: Radim Ostadal, Petr Svenda, Vaclav Matyas

Abstract: Partially compromised network is a pragmatic assumption in many real-life scenarios. Secrecy amplification protocols provide a significant increase in the number of secure communication links by re-establishing new keys via different communication paths. Our paper shows that so far research in the area of secrecy amplification protocols for wireless sensor networks has been based on rather simplified foundations with respect to attacker models. The attacker does not behave randomly and different attacker capabilities and behaviour have to be considered. We provide means to experimental work with parametrisable attacker capabilities and behaviour in realistic simulations, and evaluate the impact of the realistic attacker properties on the performance of major amplification protocols. We also show which secrecy amplification protocols perform best in different attacker settings and help to select a protocol that exhibits good results in a prevalent number of inspected scenarios.