Novel Secure and Dynamic Clustering Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure and dynamic clustering protocols, which are essential in wireless sensor network, are becoming a heated research area. However, the proposed protocols are vulnerable to wormhole attack. Most recently, SecDEACH protocol is proposed and claimed to provide both the resilient cluster head election, preserving a dynamic clustering, and the secure cluster formation. In this paper, we demonstrate that SecDEACH suffers from the wormhole attack. In order to address the wormhole attack, we propose two novel secure and dynamic clustering protocols, the NSDCP1 and the NSDCP2. The NSDCP1 is based on feedback messages from the cluster head, and can be applied in the scenario where the cluster head would not be compromised. The NSDCP2 is based on the feedback messages from the base station, and can be applied in the scenario where the base station is secure. Moreover, we formally prove the confidentiality and the authentication of the NSDCP2 based on the Strand Space model and Authentication Tests. Finally, we conduct an extensive simulation study to compare the performance of the NSDCPs with the SecDEACH. The results show that the proposed protocols hold all the merits of the SecDEACH and are more secure.