Pairing-Based Secure Timing Synchronization for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Secure time synchronization is one of the key concerns for some sophisticated sensor network applications. Most existing time synchronization protocols are affected by almost all attacks. In this paper, the authors consider Heterogeneous Sensor Networks (HSNs) as a model for their proposed novel time synchronization protocol based on pairing and Identity Based Cryptography (IBC). This is the first approach for time synchronization protocol using pairing-based cryptography in heterogeneous sensor networks. The proposed scheme reduces the key spaces of nodes as well as it prevents from all major security attacks. Security analysis indicated that the proposed scheme is robust against reply attacks, masquerade attacks, delay attacks, and message manipulation attacks.