Node Compromise in Sensor Networks: The Need for Secure Systems ; CU-CS-990-05

While sensor network deployment is becoming more commonplace in environmental, business, and military applications, security of these networks emerges as a critical concern. Without proper security, it is impossible to completely trust the results reported from sensor networks deployed outside of controlled environments. Much of the current research in sensor networks has focused on protocols and authentication schemes for protecting the transport of information. However, all of those schemes are useless if an attacker can obtain a node from the network and extract the appropriate information, such as security keys, from it. We focus our research on the area of secure systems. In this paper we demonstrate the ease with which nodes can be compromised as well as show exactly what information can be obtained and how it can be used to disrupt, falsify data within, or eavesdrop on sensor networks. We then suggest mechanisms to detect intrusions into individual sensor nodes. Finally, we come up with security measures that can be implemented in future generation nodes to improve security.