A Security Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we present an security protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). It is based on the forward and backward property of RC4 states and achieves data confidentiality, data authentication, data integrity, and data freshness with low overhead and simple operation. Furthermore, an RC4-based hash function for the generation of Message Authentication Code (MAC) is presented. The proposed protocol is an ideal solution for wireless sensor networks and other resource-constrained devices where the communication nodes have limited power resources and computational capabilities, and can be widely used in the applications of one-to-one communications as well as broadcasting and multicasting.