Threats to Wireless Sensor Networks and Approaches to Use Homomorphic Encryption to Secure Its Data

Abstract

The article considers the basic principles of building modern wireless sensor networks. The general structures of such networks, their application spheres, their strengths and weaknesses are considered. Special attention is paid to the problem of security of processed and transmitted data, as well as existing approaches to providing reliable cryptographic protection of these data in wireless sensor networks. It is shown that at working out of mechanisms of maintenance of protection of the information in sensor networks first of all it is necessary to consider restrictions inherent in such networks on volume of memory, speed of used processors, and also power consumption. This leads to a more careful and weighted choice of encryption algorithms for use in sensor networks, both for direct encryption of data collected and transmitted by sensor networks nodes, and for auxiliary functions such as calculating the optimal network route by routers that are part of sensor networks. The article focuses on the possibility of using homomorphic encryption systems to protect data collected by sensors and transmitted via wireless connections. The advantages of full and partial homomorphic encryption systems in terms of their application to sensor networks with sensors measuring environmental parameters are shown. The analysis showed that using partial homomorphic encryption over the Paye Cryptosystem to hide data in sensor networks had reasonable grounds.