Privacy in wireless sensor networks using ring signature

The veracity of a message from a sensor node must be verified in order to avoid a false reaction by the sink. This verification requires the authentication of the source node. The authentication process must also preserve the privacy such that the node and the sensed object are not endangered. In this work, a ring signature was proposed to authenticate the source node while preserving its spatial privacy. However, other nodes as signers and their numbers must be chosen to preclude the possibility of a traffic analysis attack by an adversary. The spatial uncertainty increases with the number of signers but requires larger memory size and communication overhead. This requirement can breach the privacy of the sensed object. To determine the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, the location estimate of a sensor node by an adversary and enhancement in the location uncertainty with a ring signature was evaluated. Using simulation studies, the ring signature was estimated to require approximately four members from the same neighbor region of the source node to sustain the privacy of the node. Furthermore, the ring signature was also determined to have a small overhead and not to adversely affect the performance of the sensor network.