An implementation of the hash-chain signature scheme for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

In this work we present the first implementation of the Dahmen-Krauß Hash-Chain Signature Scheme (DKSS) for short messages on a Wireless Sensor Node. We point out one error in the originally proposed scheme concerning the specification of the employed pseudo-random number generator and provide a corrected specification. We also give a new time-memory trade-off between signing time and private key size. We present performance results for various message-lengths, which are a parameter of this scheme, for two different choices for the block cipher used to build the one-way functions employed in this scheme, allowing comparisons with previous implementations of other public-key signature schemes. Furthermore, we describe our implementation of a synchronization protocol, needed in practical applications of this scheme whenever a node lacks the predecessor of a signature. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.