Symmetric-Key Based Homomorphic Primitives for End-to-End Secure Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks, secure data aggregation protocols target the two major objectives, namely, security and en route aggregation. Although en route aggregation of reverse multi-cast traffic improves energy efficiency, it becomes a hindrance to end-to-end security. Concealed data aggregation protocols aim to preserve the end-to-end privacy of sensor readings while performing en route aggregation. However, the use of inherently malleable privacy homomorphism makes these protocols vulnerable to active attackers. In this paper, we propose an integrity and privacy preserving end-to-end secure data aggregation protocol. We use symmetric key-based homomorphic primitives to provide end-to-end privacy and end-to-end integrity of reverse multicast traffic. As sensor network has a non-replenishable energy supply, the use of symmetric key based homomorphic primitives improves the energy efficiency and increase the sensor network’s lifetime. We comparatively evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol to show its efficacy and efficiency in resource-constrained environments.