An adaptive authentication approach for optimum security and energy efficiency in WMSN

Abstract The capability of Wireless Military Sensor Networks (WMSNs) to enable highly secure communication between sensor nodes which are essential for various applications, like battlefield oversight, disaster prevention, border security, and environmental monitoring, attracted the researcher community as they effectively preserve tracking in diverse settings. The major challenges associated with WMSNs are restricted bandwidth, transmission delays, limited lifetimes, and security threats. Although with the validation of sensor node authenticity, it is crucial to ensure secrecy, minimize overheads, conserve battery, and defend against attacks like wormhole, sybil, and impersonation. In the present study an energy-efficient, adaptive mutual authentication protocol is proposed for WMSN, using cryptographic digital signatures to verify sensor nodes’ legitimacy in a distributed manner. Each sensor node is initialized with a predefined base station’s public key and an internal classifier to differentiate sensor traffic. Each node then requests a digital signature from the base station, which is used for mutual authentication and verifying node security during exchange. In mutual security authentication, the digital signature generated afterward, utilized by nodes, is customized for high-assurance secure communication for military application requirements. The security manager aims to reduce packet overhead. This protocol encounters security requirements with minimal computational and communication overhead, and its evaluation demonstrates enhanced adaptability in WMSNs, effectively protecting against various security threats.