Designing a secure reliable file system for sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks are increasingly being used to monitor habitats, analyze traffic patterns, study troop movements, and gather data for reconnaissance and surveillance missions. Many wireless sensor networks require the protection of their data from unauthorized access and malicious tampering, motivating the need for a secure and reliable file system for sensor nodes. The file system presented in this paper encrypts data stored on sensor nodes' local storage in such a way that an intruder who compromises a sensor node cannot read it, and backs it up regularly on to its neighbor nodes. The file system utilizes algebraic signatures to detect data tampering.