Distributed Authentication of Program Integrity Verification in Wireless Sensor Networks

Security in wireless sensor networks has become important as they are being developed and deployed for an increasing number of applications. The severe resource constraints in each sensor make it very challenging to secure sensor networks. Moreover, sensors are usually deployed in hostile and unattended environments and hence are susceptible to various attacks, including node capture, physical tampering, and manipulation of the sensor program. Park and Shin [2005] proposed a soft tamper-proofing scheme that verifies the integrity of the program in each sensor device, called the Program Integrity Verification (PIV), in which sensors authenticate PIV Servers (PIVSs) using centralized and trusted third-party entities, such as Authentication Servers (ASs).