Distributed secure clustering protocol in wireless sensor networks

The cluster-based hierarchical topology control has been widely studied and applied in wireless sensor networks. But because of the open nature and limited resource of the sensor network, clustering protocols are vulnerable to the misuse and disruption attacks from the adversaries. As a result, the security of the clustering protocols is a basic requirement for its wide application. A distributed secure clustering protocol is proposed, in which the secure network initialization, random number broadcast from the base station and one-way hash chain are used to achieve the resiliency against possible attacks including node personating, cluster-head occupying, malicious cluster-member recruiting and multiple cluster-membership attacks. The security and cost of the protocol are evaluated and the results show the resiliency and efficiency of the proposed protocol.