Pollination: A Data Authentication Scheme for Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks

An Unattended Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN) is a recently introduced type of sensor network in which real-time data delivery of information is replaced by periodic, offline collection of the sensed data. In this work we focus on UWSNs operating in a hostile environment where the goal of an attacker is to prevent targeted data from ever reaching the sink. More precisely, we study the Data Authentication problem in the presence of a Mobile Adversary who is aiming to target a sensor's data and modify it without being detected. Inspired by the pollination process in nature, we propose two schemes that diffuse data footprints in the network using message carrying "butterflies". These schemes greatly increase the robustness of the network against data modification attempts by the mobile adversary. Extensive analytical and experimental results confirm the superiority of both Pollination and Pollination Light over previous protocols in terms of both security and communication overhead.