Hybrid Key Establishment for Multiphase Self-Organized Sensor Networks

Authors:
  • EME. Magkos
    E. Magkos
  • CDC. Douligeris
    C. Douligeris
  • VCV. Chrissikopoulos
    V. Chrissikopoulos
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Abstract
Recent work on key establishment for sensor networks has shown that it is feasible to employ limited elliptic curve cryptography in sensor networks through hybrid protocols. We propose a hybrid key establishment protocol for uniform self-organized sensor networks. The proposed protocol combines elliptic curve Diffie-Hellmann key establishment with implicit certificates and symmetric-key cryptographic techniques. The protocol can be implemented on uniform networks comprised of restricted functional devices. Furthermore, due to its public-key nature, the protocol is resilient to a wide range of passive and active attacks, such as known-key attacks, as well as attacks against the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of the communication. The protocol is scalable and efficient for low-capability devices in terms of storage, communication and computational complexity; the cost per node for a key establishment is reduced to one scalar multiplication with a random point, plus one with a fixed point.