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 Security for Wireless
Computer Science & Engineering / Cryptography & Coding Theory

Szygenda
Patil
… an excellent starting point for practitioners in the industry and students in academia

Sensor Networks
to come up to speed with security issues in wireless sensor networks.
—Vijay K. Gurbani, Ph.D., Distinguished Member of Technical Staff,
Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent

Wireless sensors are the eyes, ears, noses and cat-whiskers of the Internet of Things.
Yet these sensors are connected by a network that can be subverted by hostile parties,
risking that their output could be diverted or false information inserted. Given the
using Identity-Based
vast number of sensors to be deployed, cryptographic identity systems may be the only
manageable approach to trusting our senses.
Cryptography

SECURITY FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

—Dean Willis, Chair, IETF SIP Working Group, 1999–2009

USING IDENTITY-BASED CRYPTOGRAPHY

… a valuable reference on IBC theory and practice that researchers and practitioners
will want on their bookshelves for many years. In addition, it will certainly stimulate
new directions in research in wireless network security.
—Thomas M. Chen, Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Network, 2009–2011

Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

introduces identity-based cryptographic schemes for wireless sensor networks. It
starts with an exhaustive survey of the existing layered approach to WSN security—
detailing its pros and cons. Next, it examines new attack vectors that exploit the
layered approach to security.

After providing the necessary background, the book presents a cross-layer design
approach that addresses authentication, integrity, and encryption. It also examines
new ID-based key management mechanisms using a cross-layer design perspective. In
addition, secure routing algorithms using ID-based cryptography are also discussed.
Supplying readers with the required foundation in elliptic curve cryptography and
identity-based cryptography, the authors consider new ID-based security solutions to
overcome cross layer attacks in WSN.

Examining the latest implementations of ID-based cryptography on sensors, the book

combines cross-layer design principles along with identity-based cryptography to
provide you with a new set of security solutions that can boost storage, computation,
and energy efficiency in your wireless sensor networks.
Harsh Kupwade Patil
K13162
ISBN: 978-1-4398-6901-7
Stephen A. Szygenda
90000
w w w. c rc p r e s s . c o m

9 781439 869017
www.auerbach-publications.com

K13162 cvr mech.indd 1 9/5/12 9:56 AM

 Comments from Accomplished People in the Field on
Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using
Identity-Based Cryptography

Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography provides a step-by-
step approach to everything you’ll need to know about wireless sensor network security.
The book also has information about many topics relevant to wireless sensor network
security planning, design, and implementation of Identity-Based Cryptography, which
is a superior security solution with better resistance against known attacks.

—John R. Vacca
Author, Professional Writer, Editor, Reviewer and IT Consultant

Getting the right balance of systems security is a hard enough task in traditional net-
working, let alone securing a wireless network composed of sensors with high resource
limitations that, nonetheless, can collaborate to perform complex tasks. This book
serves as an excellent starting point for practitioners in the industry and students in
academia to come up to speed with security issues in wireless sensor networks.

—Vijay K. Gurbani, Ph.D.

Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent
Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology

Strong identity mechanisms are a hard sell for today’s Net because people feel that
they know who they’re talking to. In the Internet of Things with its focus on unfeeling
machine-to-machine communications, we must replace “feeling secure” with actually
being secure. Wireless sensors are the eyes, ears, noses and cat-whiskers of the Internet
of Things. Yet these sensors are connected by a network that can be subverted by hostile
parties, risking that their output could be diverted or false information inserted. Given
the vast number of sensors to be deployed, cryptographic identity systems may be the
only manageable approach to trusting our senses.

—Dean Willis
Chair, IETF SIP Working Group, 1999-2009
This page intentionally left blank
 Security for Wireless
Sensor Networks
using Identity-Based
Cryptography

K13162_FM.indd 1 9/6/12 3:27 PM

This page intentionally left blank
 Security for Wireless
Sensor Networks
using Identity-Based
Cryptography

Harsh Kupwade Patil

Stephen A. Szygenda

K13162_FM.indd 3 9/6/12 3:27 PM

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Version Date: 20120829

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Contents

Dedication xi

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Authors xix

Chapter 1 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 1

In This Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 WSN Applications 2
1.2 History of WSN 3
1.3 WSN Architecture 5
1.3.1 Homogenous Sensor Networks 6
1.3.2 Heterogeneous Sensor Networks 8
1.4 Architecture of Sensor Nodes 8
1.5 The Protocol Stack in WSN 9
1.6 MANET Versus WSN 11
1.6.1 Similarities Between MANET and WSN 11
1.6.2 Differences Between MANET and WSN 12
1.7 Challenges in WSN 12
1.7.1 Battery Life and Power Consumption 12
1.7.2 Power Conservation Mechanism 13

v
vi Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

1.7.3 Communication Media 14

1.7.4 Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology 14
1.8 The Routing Problem in WSN 14
1.9 Broadcasting and Multicasting 15
1.9.1 Broadcasting 15
1.9.2 Network Discovery 16
1.9.3 Data Aggregation in WSN 16
1.10 Summary 17
1.11 References 17

Chapter 2 Security in Wireless Sensor Networks 19

In This Chapter 19
2.1 Introduction 19
2.2 Attacks on WSN 20
2.2.1 Threats to Privacy 20
2.2.2 Threats to Control 23
2.2.3 Threats to Availability 26
2.2.4 Attacks Specific to WSN 28
2.3 Countermeasures to Attacks in WSN 29
2.3.1 Security in WSN Using a Layered Approach 30
2.4 Summary 32
2.5 References 32

Chapter 3 Elliptic Curve Cryptography 33

In This Chapter 33
3.1 Introduction 33
3.2 Introduction to Modern Algebra 34
3.2.1 Groups 34
3.2.2 Rings 35
3.2.3 Fields 36
3.3 Prime Fields 36
3.4 Binary Fields 37
3.5 Elliptic Curve Cryptography 37
3.5.1 Discrete log Problem 40
3.5.2 Weierstrass Equations 41
3.5.3 Prime Curves 43
3.5.4 Binary Curves 44
3.5.5 Group Law 45
 Contents vii

3.6 Why Elliptic Curve Cryptography? 48

3.7 Elliptic Curve Discrete Log Problem 48
3.8 Torsion Points 49
3.9 Pairing-Based Cryptography 50
3.9.1 Divisor Theory 50
3.9.2 Rational Function 51
3.9.3 Weil Pairing 53
3.9.4 Bilinear Property 54
3.9.5 Tate Pairing 55
3.10 Summary 55
3.11 References 55

Chapter 4 Identity-Based Cryptography 57

In This Chapter 57
4.1 Introduction 57
4.1.1 Symmetric Key Cryptographic Systems 59
4.1.2 Asymmetric Key Cryptographic Systems 60
4.2 Public Key Infrastructure 62
4.2.1 Single-Certificate Authority Model 62
4.2.2 A Hierarchy of Certificate Authorities 63
4.2.3 Pros and Cons of PKI 65
4.3 Identity-Based Cryptography 66
4.3.1 Computational Problems 69
4.3.2 Identity-Based Encryption Schemes 71
4.3.3 Hierarchical Identity-Based Encryption Scheme 75
4.3.4 Identity-Based Authentication Schemes 78
4.3.5 Key Distribution in IBC 84
4.3.6 Key Escrow Problem 84
4.3.7 Threshold Signature Scheme 86
4.4 Summary 89
4.5 References 90

Chapter 5 Identity-Based Authentication and Encryption in

Wireless Sensor Networks 93
In This Chapter 93
5.1 Introduction 93
5.2 Related Work 95
5.2.1 SPINS 95
viii Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

5.2.2 TinySec 97
5.2.3 Lightweight Public Key Infrastructure for WSN 98
5.3 Identity-Based Digital Signature Schemes in WSN 99
5.3.1 ID-Based Signature (IBS) 99
5.3.2 ID-Based Online/Offline Signature (IBOOS) 99
5.3.3 BNN-IBS Scheme 100
5.3.4 Description of Identity-Based Multiuser
Broadcast Authentication in Wireless Sensor
Networks (IMBAS) 102
5.3.5 ID-Based One-Pass Authenticated
Key-Establishment Protocol for WSN 105
5.3.6 TinyIBE Scheme 110
5.4 Revocation 111
5.5 User Authentication 111
5.6 Summary 113
5.7 References 113

Chapter 6 Identity-Based Key Distribution in Wireless Sensor

Networks 115
In This Chapter 115
6.1 Introduction 115
6.2 Background 116
6.3 Key-Distribution Schemes 116
6.3.1 Symmetric Key Algorithms 117
6.3.2 Trusted Server Mechanisms 117
6.3.3 -Secure n ⴛ n Key-Establishment Schemes 118
6.3.4 Random Key-Predistribution Schemes 118
6.3.5 q-Composite Scheme 121
6.3.6 Random Pairwise Key Scheme 122
6.3.7 Multispace Key Schemes 123
6.3.8 Deterministic Key-Predistribution Schemes 124
6.3.9 Public Key Algorithms 124
6.4 ID-Based Key-Distribution Schemes 125
6.4.1 ID-Based Bilinear Key-Predistribution Scheme
for Distributed Sensor Networks 126
6.4.2 Key Maintenance 128
6.5 Cross-Layer Approach to Key Management 131
6.6 Summary 132
6.7 References 132
 Contents ix

Chapter 7 Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks Using

Identity-Based Cryptography 135
In This Chapter 135
7.1 Introduction 135
7.2 Routing Classifications in WSN 136
7.2.1 Data-Centric Communication 136
7.2.2 Location Information 137
7.2.3 Network Layering and In-Network Processing 138
7.2.4 Path Redundancy 143
7.2.5 Quality of Service (QoS) 143
7.2.6 Network Dynamics 144
7.2.7 Network Heterogeneity 145
7.3 Related Work 145
7.3.1 Routing Protocols in WSN 146
7.4 Selective-Forwarding Attack in WSN 147
7.4.1 ID-Based Routing in WSN 147
7.4.2 Cross-Layer Routing 155
7.5 Summary 155
7.6 References 156

Chapter 8 Cross-Layer Security in Wireless Sensor Networks 159

In This Chapter 159
8.1 Introduction 159
8.2 Cross-Layer Design in WSN 160
8.2.1 Motivation 160
8.3 Cross-Layer Design Proposals 162
8.4 Cross-Layer Key Distribution 165
8.4.1 Clustering Protocol 166
8.5 Cross-Layer Key Establishment 167
8.5.1 Basic Scheme 167
8.5.2 Pairwise Key Setup with ECDH 169
8.6 Open Challenges 169
8.6.1 Cross-Layer Couplings 170
8.6.2 Coexistence of Cross-Layer Design Proposals 170
8.6.3 Particular Cross-Layer Design 170
8.6.4 Standardization of Interfaces 171
8.6.5 Physical Layer in Cross-Layer Proposals 171
8.6.6 Ideal Model for Secure Communication 171
x Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

8.7 Summary 172

8.8 References 172

Chapter 9 Implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography in

Wireless Sensor Networks 173
In This Chapter 173
9.1 Introduction 173
9.2 Point Coordinate System 174
9.3 Design Principles 178
9.4 ECC Security Parameters 179
9.5 The Platform 179
9.5.1 MICAz/MICA2 Mote 180
9.5.2 16-bit MSP430 Microcontroller 181
9.5.3 Marvell PXA271 181
9.6 Related Work 183
9.6.1 TinyECC 184
9.6.2 NanoECC 185
9.7 Implementation of Identity-Based Cryptography (IBC)
in WSN 186
9.8 Algorithms for Finite Field Arithmetic 190
9.8.1 Prime Field Arithmetic on Resource-Constraint
Processors 191
9.8.2 Efficient Binary Field Arithmetic for Low-End
Processors 196
9.9 Summary 199
9.10 References 200

Appendix—For Further Reading 203

Index 205
Dedication

In loving memory of
Koki and Tiger

xi
This page intentionally left blank
Foreword

The science of cryptography provides the essential foundation for secure communica-
tions. We use cryptography everywhere in our everyday communications: our Skype
calls are encrypted; our e-commerce web sites are authenticated and encrypted by SSL;
and our smartphone apps are digitally signed. But cryptography has always presented
difficulties for implementation.
The basic problem in traditional symmetric key cryptography has always been how
to share secret keys. In order to establish a secure communication channel, the sender
and recipient have to agree on a secret key in a secure way, which poses a chicken-and-
egg dilemma.
On the surface, public key cryptography seemed to solve the key sharing problem
because one’s private key is not shared and the public key can be distributed to every-
one. However, public key cryptography created new challenges for an infrastructure of
trusted certificate authorities to distribute and manage digital certificates.
Identity-based cryptography (IBC) was a groundbreaking idea to generate pub-
lic keys from one’s public identity, eliminating the need for public key certificates.
Messages can be encrypted and sent by deriving the encryption key from the recipient’s
identity. This novel approach has led to many interesting possibilities that researchers
have been exploring.
This book is the fruition of several years of research by my former colleagues
at Southern Methodist University to investigate IBC for wireless sensor networks.
Wireless sensor networks have a number of difficult security issues related to secure
routing, authentication, key distribution, and intrusion detection. This work is a bold
pioneering attempt to apply IBC to solve these major security problems. The latter part
of the book takes a particularly interesting cross-layer approach to security across dif-
ferent protocol layers.
I believe this book will be a valuable reference on IBC theory and practice that
researchers and practitioners will want on their bookshelves for many years. In addition,

xiii
xiv Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

it will certainly stimulate new directions in research in wireless network security. It was
my pleasure to have been involved in the early stages of this work, and I hope you will
enjoy reading the book.

Thomas M. Chen
Swansea University
Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Network, 2009–2011
Preface

The use of cryptography in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is an emerging technol-

ogy that has dramatically advanced in recent years through the efforts of numerous
researchers and practitioners. Chapter 1 of this book introduces WSNs. A WSN net-
work typically consists of low-cost, low-powered, and multifunctional sensor nodes
that are deployed in a region of interest. These nodes are small in size and are equipped
with sensors, embedded microprocessors, and radio transceivers. Hence, they not only
have sensing capacity but also data processing and communication capabilities. They
communicate over short distances through the wireless medium and collaborate to
accomplish a common task. Such networks have a wide range of military and civil-
ian applications. Due to their widespread applications in numerous areas, WSNs have
received an enormous amount of attention from both academia and industry.
Once deployed, sensor nodes can autonomously organize themselves into a wireless
communication network. Distinguished from traditional wireless networks, WSNs are
characterized by denser levels of node deployment; greater unreliability of sensor nodes;
and severe power, computation, memory, and bandwidth constraints. As a result, secu-
rity in WSNs has been an ever-increasing challenge in such resource-constraint net-
works. Security mechanisms in such networks are essential to protect data integrity and
confidentiality, authentication, access control, user privacy, and continuity of service.
The unique characteristics and constraints on WSNs present many new challenges
to their development and application. In Chapter 2, we look at the legacy attacks that
were inherited from the traditional wireless networks, as well as new attacks that are
adapted to WSNs.
The science of cryptography addresses the problems associated with providing effi-
cient tools to secure data or information. A number of different approaches have been
developed over the years. Historically, cryptography was dominated by symmetric key
cryptography and mainly dealt with methods to transmit information in a confidential
manner. During the late 1970s, asymmetric cryptography emerged from the pioneer-
ing work by Diffie and Hellman. Their findings were published in a paper titled “New

xv
xvi Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

directions in cryptography” (Diffie and Hellman 1976). However, they were unable to
come up with a concrete mathematical proof of their proposed scheme. In 1978, Rivest,
Shamir, and Adleman came up with a convincing algorithm that conceptualized public
key encryption and called it the RSA algorithm (Rivest et al. 1978). In 1984, Shamir
introduced identity-based cryptography (IBC) (Shamir 1984), which forms the basis
for this book. He constructed an identity-based signature (IBS) scheme using the exist-
ing RSA function (Rivest et al. 1978) but was unsuccessful in constructing an identity-
based encryption (IBE) scheme, which remained a long-standing problem for almost
a decade. In 2001, Boneh and Franklin came up with an independent solution using
the concept of bilinear maps (Boneh and Franklin 2001). This led to a new era of
research in IBC. Since then, IBC has become a fascinating area of research in modern
cryptography.
Before dealing specifically with IBC, in Chapter 3 we present some of the theory
of elliptic curves, assuming that the reader has a modest background in elementary
number theory and in groups and field theory. Subsequently, the basic idea of IBE is
introduced.
Chapter 4 attempts to cover all important IBE schemes and its applicability in
WSNs.
We review broadcast authentication and encryption schemes in WSNs in Chapter 5.
In Chapter 6, we review the interesting problem of key distribution in sensor net-
works and explore some interesting key-distribution schemes that are based on IBC,
which forms the basis for secure routing in WSN (Chapter 7).
Adaptive cross-layer security plays a crucial role in the security of modern WSNs.
Chapter 8 emphasizes the need for cross-layer security across all layers of the WSN
protocol stack. In addition, it provides examples for cross-layer security using IBC.
Chapter 9 reviews some implementation results of IBC on existing sensor node
platforms.
This book is intended to serve as a reference and to provide a concise view of IBC
in WSNs. It offers in-depth coverage of identity-based cryptographic security theory,
technology, and practice as they relate to established technologies, as well as recent
advancements in the field. Furthermore, it explores practical security solutions to
WSNs using IBC. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive and sys-
tematic introduction to the fundamental concepts, major issues, and effective security
solutions in wireless sensor networking.
The primary audience for this book consists of researchers and practitioners in
industry and academia, as well as security technologists and engineers working on, or
interested in, security for WSNs.
The authors are deeply indebted to the myriad of researchers in numerous fields,
including mathematics, cryptography, communications, computers, and security, who
have provided the foundations for this exciting field of research. It is the confluence of
many ideas, from various fields of research and many researchers, that allows us to inch
ahead in the technology marathon in which we have chosen to participate.
Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Dr. Stephen A. Szygenda for his support, guidance, and encourage-
ment in the writing of this book. I would like to thank Dr. Thomas M. Chen for
his continued support throughout my career. I would also like to thank Dr. Diego F.
Aranha for all the fruitful conversations on the topic of implementing identity-based
cryptographic algorithms on sensor nodes.
I would like to thank Richard O’Hanley at CRC Press for giving us the opportu-
nity to write this book. I would also like to thank Theron Shreve and Marje Pollack
for providing several rounds of comments on each chapter regarding matters of style,
organization, and coverage.
Finally, the book would have never been completed without the encouragement of
my parents; my brother, Kunal; and my wife, Akshaya.

xvii
This page intentionally left blank
About the Authors

Harsh Kupwade Patil

Dr. Harsh Kupwade Patil is a Technical Advisor in the Dallas office of Fish &
Richardson P.C. His practice supports patent prosecution in a broad range of tech-
nologies, particularly in network and system security and applied cryptography. Prior
to joining the firm, Dr. Kupwade Patil was involved in collaborative research work
with Cisco Systems Inc., Bell Laboratories–Alcatel-Lucent, and Sipera Systems Inc.
(acquired by Avaya Inc.). He holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and a
Ph.D. in Applied Science from Southern Methodist University.

Stephen A. Szygenda

Professor Szygenda is the former Dean of the School of Engineering at Southern

Methodist University and The University of Alabama–Birmingham. He has held the
position of Chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at
The University of Texas–Austin, where he also held the Clint Murchison Jr. Chair
of Free Enterprise and was the founding Director of the Texas Center for Technology
Development and Transfer. During his academic endeavors, Dr. Szygenda acquired
extensive government and industry research funding, received numerous awards,
consulted for more than 50 international companies and universities, served on the
board of directors of a number of companies, and published more than 200 papers. He
received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
In industry, Dr. Szygenda has served as President of SBI Inc., COMSAT General
Integrated Systems, the Rubicon Group, and Comprehensive Computing Systems and
Services Inc. He was also a member of the technical staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Dr. Szygenda is a pioneer in the areas of Simulation, CAD, Fault Tolerant
Computing, Telecommunications, Software Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Strategic
Planning, Technology Transfer, Business Management, and Economic Development.

xix
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Chapter 1
Introduction to Wireless
Sensor Networks

In This Chapter

• An introduction to wireless sensor networks

• History of WSN
• WSN architecture and protocol stack
• Mobile ad-hoc networks versus WSN
• Challenges in WSN

1.1 Introduction

Recent advances in sensing technology, wireless communication, and digital comput-

ing techniques have led to the creation and subsequent proliferation of wireless sensor
networks (WSN). A WSN can be broadly described as a network of nodes that makes
a collaborative effort in sensing certain specified data around its periphery and thereby
controls the surrounding environment (Verdone et al. 2008). It is usually a concatena-
tion of a data acquisition network and a data dissemination network. The data acquisi-
tion network consists of the actual sensor nodes along with the mobile or stationary
base station (sink node); the data dissemination network is a collection of wired and
wireless networks that is involved in postprocessing of the acquired data. However, the
acquisition network is severely constrained in computing, storage, and power levels
when compared to the dissemination network. A stark distinction between WSN and
other legacy wireless networks is the decentralized architecture. In addition, the higher

1
2 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

scalability ratio in connection with node deployment and hazardous operating envi-
ronments distinguish WSN from legacy wireless networks such as cellular or mobile
ad-hoc networks (MANET).

1.1.1 WSN Applications

The past two decades have seen an enormous amount of increase in WSN applications
(Akyildiz et al. 2002). Applications can be broadly categorized into military and civilian
types. Military applications may include remote sensing, battlefield monitoring, object
protection, and intelligent guiding of un-manned moving objects. Civilian applications
may include environmental monitoring such as habitat monitoring, disaster monitor-
ing, and air and water pollution control. In addition, WSN may also be used in health
care, acoustic and video surveillance, industrial process control, and home intelligence.

1.1.1.1 Civilian Applications

Sensors can be used to detect physical parameters such as temperature, pressure,

humidity, sound, light, etc. They can also be used to detect air and water quality, and
composition of earth. Furthermore, attributes of an object such as height, weight, posi-
tion, and speed can be used as sensing parameters.
WSN significantly reduce deployment costs because they can be applied in hostile
environments such as battlefields, ocean depths, and outer space. Among the earliest
applications of sensor networks are environmental monitoring, which further includes
habitat monitoring, air and water quality monitoring, hazard monitoring, and disas-
ter monitoring.

• Habitat monitoring: The living conditions of wild animals and plants can be
monitored using remote sensors. Moreover, rare species of wild animals/plants
can be under constant observation using WSN (Naumowicz et al. 2010).
• Air and water quality management: Sensors can be placed on the tip of a volcano
to detect any eruption, or placed in the middle of the ocean on its floor to detect
the possibility of tsunami, or they can be used for ocean pollution prevention
(Werner-Allen et al. 2005; Khan and Jenkins 2008).
• Hazard monitoring: Sensors can be used to detect any biological or chemical
hazard—for example, detecting a chemical or biological weapon. In addition,
they can used to detect any leakage of toxic chemical waste or gases in a chemical
process plant (Chen et al. 2010).
• Disaster monitoring: Natural disasters such as forest fires and flash floods can be
easily detected by deploying WSN in such volatile areas. Seismic sensors can be
planted to detect the direction and magnitude of an earthquake. They can also
be deployed around nuclear plants, oil and gas pipelines, and strategic bridges.
• Health care: WSN have widespread applications in health care, in that they can
be used to monitor patients with disabilities and thereby reduce the need for
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 3

health care personnel (Jafari et al. 2005). They can also be used in the study of
the behavior of patients by remotely monitoring and helping behavioral scientists
in their research. Such networks can be used for early detection of clinical dete-
rioration of patients in hospitals or can provide emergency care in large disasters
such as earthquakes or flooding (Ko et al. 2010).
• Smart homes: Wireless sensors have played a major role in improving “smart
home” technologies (Byoung-Kug et al. 2008). For example, a smart refrigerator
equipped with embedded WSN technology can sense if the home owner is low
on groceries and can send a text message/email to the owner’s cell phone with an
alert message. WSN have played a crucial role in enhancing safety measures for
cars by sensing the possibility of a collision and automatically applying brakes
(Lai et al. 2010). In addition, wireless sensors can be used in automating utility
bills by remotely reading utility meters installed in homes to measure usage of
gas, water, or electricity.

1.1.1.2 Military Applications

WSN have become an integral part of many military applications (Lee et al. 2009).
The ease of deployment of WSN in any ad-hoc environment and the ability to self-
configure have made them the number-one choice in battlefield environments.
Moreover, the use of such intelligent and autonomous networks reduces casualties
and takes the art of warfare to a whole new level. For example, motion-detecting sen-
sors can be used to track the presence of enemy forces on land, air, or water and can
facilitate constant surveillance.
Sensors can be placed on manned or unmanned robots to guide them around
obstacles and help them interact better among themselves. In addition, they can be
used on missiles for pinpoint-precision attacks.

1.2 History of WSN

Work in WSN began as early as the onset of the Cold War, with the development
of a Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) by the United States to detect and moni-
tor the Soviet Union’s submarines. Over the years, many sophisticated acoustic sen-
sor networks have been developed for submarine surveillance. In the early 1980s,
the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) initiated research in
WSN by initiating the Distributed Sensor Network (DSN) program (Chee-Yee and
Kumar 2003). Basically, DSN consisted of many spatially distributed sensing nodes
that operated autonomously and made independent routing decisions. During this
time, the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was suc-
cessful in establishing about 200 hosts at various research institutes and universities,
and the founders of ARPANET were curious to know whether the approaches used
in designing communication protocols for ARAPNET could be used in DSN. Most
of the pivotal technological constituents for a DSN were identified at the Distributed
4 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

Sensor Nets workshop in 1978 (Proceedings of the Distributed Sensor Nets Workshop.
Pittsburgh 1978). The key components included acoustic sensors, a focus on devel-
oping new self-location algorithms for distributed networking, and development of
new protocols for digital communication among sensors. Since research in artificial
intelligence (AI) was also supported by DARPA, the workshop included talks on the
use of AI in signal processing. Furthermore, it focused on various distributed problem-
solving techniques. During the same time, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University
(CMU) developed an operating system kernel called Accent (Rashid and Robertson
1981). Accent provided transparent and flexible access to distributed resources, which
was a necessity for a fault-tolerant DSN. Later, Accent evolved into one of the most
popular operating systems, known as Mach (Rashid et al. 1989). A practical example
of DSN was a helicopter tracking system developed at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) (Myers et al. 1984). This system used a distributed array of acoustic
microphones along with knowledge-based signal-processing techniques to track heli-
copters. However, researchers soon realized that tracking multiple targets in a distrib-
uted environment was a greater challenge than a centralized architecture. Although
researchers in the 1980s and early 1990s had a vision of the future of WSN, the minia-
turization technology was not there to support their goals. Sensors at that time were
quite large, which presented an impediment to practical implementation.
The 1980s saw the emergence of multiple-hypothesis tracking algorithms that were
decomposed for distributed implementations (Chong et al. 1990). These algorithms
were basically designed to target strenuous situations involving high target density
and false alarms. Although radar and national power grid networks have existed for
decades, the term “wireless sensor network” came into vogue in the late 1990s with
the advent of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) (Pierret 1990; Senturia 2001).
MEMS have been the driving technology in manufacturing tiny, low-cost, and low-
powered sensor nodes. This new paradigm of research in WSN has attracted a lot of
attention and has paved the way to a new era of network research in a highly dynamic
and ad-hoc environment. It has also broadened the scope of various civilian and mili-
tary WSN applications. For example, body sensor networks, vehicular sensor networks,
and many other such applications that require tiny sensors with a limited sensing range
and processing power have emanated from the introduction of MEMS. In this new era
of WSN research, DARPA initiated a new research program called SensIT, which facil-
itated a new environment for new algorithms in an ad-hoc, decentralized networking
paradigm (Kumar and Shepherd 2001). During this time, the IEEE saw the potential
of WSN in diverse fields and established the IEEE 802.1 WPAN Task Group, which
produced IEEE Standard 802.15.4–2003: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and
Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications. This standard defines the characteristics of the
data-link and physical layer for low-data-rate wireless personal area networks. The
advantages of such networks include short-range communication with higher prob-
ability of reliable data transmission and extreme low cost in deployment with minimal
human supervision. Based on IEEE Std. 802.15.4, a group of companies formed an alli-
ance called the ZigBee Alliance (www.zigbee.org) to produce standards for low-power
wireless networking. This new technology is gaining widespread acceptance in many
different industrial and governmental organizations. ZigBee reuses the data-link and
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 5

physical layer specified by the IEEE Std. 802.15.4 and introduces the network layer for
different topologies. It also provides a framework for application-layer development.

1.3 WSN Architecture

A sensor network typically consists of a collection of low-cost, low-powered sensor

nodes distributed in an ad-hoc fashion. Each of these networks has one or more sink
nodes or base stations, which is usually a resource-abundant computer with sufficient
storage, computing, and communication capabilities (Figure 1.1). These sink nodes
send queries or commands to their respective sensor nodes, which then collaborate with
each other to accomplish the given task. In addition, the sink nodes act as a gateway
between the sensor network and the outside network (Internet or cellular network).
A typical sensor node is equipped with the actual sensing equipment for data aggre-
gation, embedded microcontroller for instantaneous processing of data, and a radio
transceiver for digital communication. Usually, nodes communicate over a short dis-
tance and use a wireless medium for all communications. Each sensor node senses
data from its surrounding environment and sends this captured data to its sink node.
Generally, the data or control packets from the sending node travel in a hop-by-hop
fashion through every intermediate sensor node to reach the sink node (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1. Wireless Sensor Network

6 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

Figure 1.2. Hop-by-Hop Routing

However, in certain situations, it is inefficient for each node to forward the cap-
tured raw data directly to the sink node, as this could lead to early exhaustion of valu-
able resources (battery, memory, and computation ability) of each intermediate routing
node. Hence, to overcome this issue, the network is further divided into clusters and
each cluster has a cluster head. Each cluster head is responsible for locally aggregating
data from its cluster nodes and then forwarding it to its sink node. Furthermore, cluster
heads can preprocess the raw data before sending it to the sink node.
Depending on the way data is aggregated by sensor nodes, WSN architectures can
be classified into homogenous, heterogeneous, and hybrid sensor networks (Nakayama
et al. 2007).

1.3.1 Homogenous Sensor Networks

In a homogenous network architecture, the cluster heads and the ordinary sensor nodes
have the same computational, storage, and communication capabilities as a sink node.
In this architecture, the network topology determines the method of data aggregation.
Usually, flat and hierarchical architectures (Figure 1.3 and Figure 1.4) are used in a
homogenous architecture (Rajagopalan and Varshney 2006).
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 7

Figure 1.3. Flat Architecture in WSN

1.3.1.1 Flat Architecture

In a flat architecture, every entity of the network (sink node and sensor nodes) has the
same computational and communication capabilities. Hence, it can also be perceived
as a peer-to-peer architecture. However, with the increase in the scalability of the sen-
sor nodes, it is rather challenging to have a global addressing scheme. For this reason,
a data-centric routing scheme is sought as a pragmatic solution to the increasing scala-
bility issue. In this scheme, the sink node broadcasts a query or command to all the
nodes in the network, and only the concerned nodes that have a corresponding match
to the query respond to the sink node.

1.3.1.2 Hierarchical Architecture

In contrast to the flat architecture, the hierarchical architecture segregates the network
into clusters and increases the overall energy efficiency of the network (Shah et al.
2003). In this architecture, the nodes operate in close proximity to their respective

Figure 1.4. Hierarchical Architecture in WSN

8 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

cluster heads. Hence, nodes with lower energy levels simply capture the required raw
data and forward it to their respective cluster heads. Usually, the cluster heads possess
more processing and storage capacity than any ordinary sensor node.
In the case of a highly dynamic and a decentralized environment, nodes with
higher energy levels can take responsibility for a cluster head and nodes with lower
energy levels can be the cluster nodes. Furthermore, adopting this architecture will
not only increase the energy efficiency of the network, it will also balance traffic load
with an increase in size of the network. In certain situations, data aggregation can be
performed at the cluster heads instead of the sink node to improve the efficiency of the
entire network.

1.3.2 Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

In a heterogeneous sensor network, the sink node or base station can be mobile (Shah
et al. 2003; Chatzigiannakis et al. 2006). Hence, the mobile sink node can move ran-
domly to any of the sensing regions and collect data by interacting closely with the
sensor nodes. In addition, the sink’s mobility will increase the overall energy level of
the system.

1.4 Architecture of Sensor Nodes

A typical sensor node consists of a sensing unit, a processing unit, and a transceiver
(Figure 1.5). The sensing unit consists of actual sensors, and it is the only interface to
the outside environment.






 


  
 Figure 1.5. Architecture of Sensor Node
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 9

The processor unit contains the microprocessors which process information

received from the sensing unit. Due to energy constraints, the processing unit performs
partial processing of data and leaves the extensive processing to the sink node. Hence
the processors operate in different modes, so that they can lower their activity in situa-
tions of lower battery power. However, the decision to change to a different processing
mode requires collaboration with other layers. (Layered architecture is discussed in
Section 1.5).
Operating frequency and operating voltage determine the amount of energy
required by the microprocessor. New voltage scheduling schemes have been adopted to
save energy (dynamic voltage scheduling), which take operating voltage and frequency
into consideration during processing (Pillai and Shin 2001). Recent research has shown
that the amount of energy required by the communication unit is much greater than
that of the processing unit.
The communication unit consists of a short-range transceiver, customized to
operate in a resource-constrained environment. The limited battery energy forces
the transceiver to adopt a hop-by-hop mechanism over the end-to-end mechanism
adopted by legacy IP networks. For this reason, sensor nodes are placed in close prox-
imity to each other, so that the node discovery phase and routing process consume less
battery power.

1.5 The Protocol Stack in WSN

WSN operate in a resource-constrained environment and therefore deviate from the

traditional Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. A WSN stack is usually com-
prised of six layers: an application layer, middleware, transport, network, data link,
and a physical layer. In addition to these six layers that are mapped to each sensor
node, there are three more planes that span across the entire sensor network and
have more visibility to address issues such as mobility, power, and task management
(Figure 1.6).

• Application layer: The application layer aims to create an abstraction of the main
functions of the sensing application, thereby making the lower software and
hardware levels transparent to the end user. The application layer involves sev-
eral processes running simultaneously, and handles user requests relating to data
aggregation, location finding, sleep/awake cycle control, time synchronization,
authentication, encryption, key distribution, and other security measures. It also
defines the order and format of message exchange between the two communica-
tion parties.
• Middleware: The middle layer provides an Application Program Interface (API)
for applications existing in the upper layers, and may involve complex function-
alities such as resource sharing and task management.
• Transport layer: The transport layer is responsible for flow and congestion control.
It also performs error control to detect corrupted frames that arrive from lower
layers. Due to the severe operating environment and lesser transmission power,
10 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

  



 
 
  
 
 
  
 

 

Figure 1.6. WSN Protocol Stack

it is difficult to achieve high end-to-end link reliability compared to traditional

wireless networks. In addition, the transport layer performs fragmentation of
sender data and reassembly of received data frames.
• Network layer: The network layer’s primary goals are to perform routing opera-
tions and self-configuration. It is responsible for link failures and provides regu-
lar updates to neighboring nodes. However, assuring network connectivity at all
times is a major challenge due to dynamically changing network topology. The
routing protocols in WSN are very different from traditional routing protocols
because of the need to optimize network life by performing intelligent routing.
• Data link layer: The data link layer is an interface between the network and
physical layer. It is further subdivided into two modules: Medium Access Con-
trol (MAC) and Logical Link Control (LLC). The MAC module plays a critical
role in conserving network life by efficiently allocating medium access to the
contending nodes. The LLC is on top of the MAC layer and is responsible for
cyclic redundancy check (CRC), sequencing information and adding appropriate
source and destination information.
• Physical layer: The physical layer is responsible for converting digital bits into ana-
log symbols and vice versa. It involves modulation and demodulation, frequency
selection, power control, and symbol synchronization. WSN usually operate in
frequencies ranging from 915 MHz to 2.4 GHz. It is recommended to use a
lower-frequency band, as there is higher attenuation when operating in higher-
frequency bands. However, with the limited availability of the bandwidth in the
lower frequencies, WSN is forced to operate at higher frequencies. The environ-
ment in which sensors are operating plays a major role in signal attenuation. Thus,
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 11

sensors placed on the ground or floating on water experience greater attenua-

tion and consequently require higher transmit power. The choice of modulation
scheme is one of the prime factors in deciding the transmit power. The modula-
tion scheme decides the bit error rate (BER), spectrum efficiency, and number of
bits per symbol. For example, an M-ary modulation scheme is able to transmit
more bits per symbol than other binary modulation schemes such as Phase Shift
Keying (PSK). However, M-ary schemes result in higher BER and require more
transmit power than the binary modulation schemes. Hence binary modulation
schemes are more applicable to WSN.
• Mobility plane: Sensor nodes can be fixed on moving objects such as animals,
vehicles, people, etc; which will lead to a dynamic topology. In the event of some
mobility by sensor nodes, the mobility in collaboration with the network layer is
responsible for maintaining the list of active neighboring nodes. It is also respon-
sible for interacting periodically with other neighboring nodes’ mobility planes,
so that it can create and maintain a table of active, power-efficient routes.
• Power plane: The power plane focuses on the awareness of power at each hori-
zontal and vertical layer. It is responsible for shutting off the sensors if they are
not participating in any routing decisions or simply if the sensing activity is com-
plete. Power planes of each node work collectively on deciding efficient routes to
sink nodes and maintain the sleep/awake cycles of sensor nodes.
• Task management plane: The task management plane is responsible for achiev-
ing a common goal by taking properties of each layer and across each layer in a
power-aware manner.

1.6 MANET Versus WSN

A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a network of mobile nodes communicat-

ing through a wireless medium and with an ability to self-configure itself (Tavli and
Heinzelman 2005). The ability of each node to move freely in any direction results in
a topology that is very dynamic. MANET has been studied for decades and is closely
related to WSN. However, recent research work has shown that WSN can be catego-
rized as a separate research topic. Let us look at the similarities and dissimilarities of
MANET and WSN.

1.6.1 Similarities Between MANET and WSN

MANET and WSN are both wireless ad-hoc networks with distributed architectures.
The nodes in both types of network are powered by batteries. Intermediate nodes in
each of the networks may be involved in routing decisions. One of the major drawbacks
to both types of network is that they operate in an unlicensed spectrum, resulting in
radio interference from other radio technologies. Self-management is a key feature in
both types of network.
12 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

1.6.2 Differences Between MANET and WSN

One of the fundamental differences between MANET and WSN is that MANET
nodes (PDA, laptop computers, cell phones, and other mobile radio terminals) are
in close association with human beings. However, sensor nodes are in close proxim-
ity to the surrounding environment. Consequently, sensor nodes are more scalable
than MANET nodes, and can range from a few hundreds to thousands of nodes.
Deployment scenarios are as diverse as sensor nodes placed on the edge of an active vol-
cano or in the middle of an ocean bed. Therefore the likelihood of sensor nodes being
damaged is higher when compared to MANET nodes. For this reason, the topology of
WSN is very dynamic and is not solely dependent on the node mobility, as in MANET.
Hence, the topology of the network is also dependent on the sleep/awake cycle. Sensor
nodes have ROM memory of a few kilobytes and processing speeds of a few megahertz.
On the other hand, MANET nodes have large storage space and high-speed processors
that can record and play video files.

1.7 Challenges in WSN

In general, WSN pose significant technical challenges to communication, data pro-
cessing, and security. (Threats to security will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2.)
Moreover, harsh and dynamic operating environments, along with energy and band-
width constraints, have increased challenges to node/network discovery, routing,
data aggregation, querying, and network management. Below, we discuss a few of
these challenges.

1.7.1 Battery Life and Power Consumption

The need for power control to increase energy efficiency has been one of the main
challenges in WSN. Usually, sensor nodes are battery-operated but function in perilous
environments, making frequent replacement of batteries difficult. It is important for
sensor nodes to monitor battery life, as there is a possibility of the node receiving high
current that lasts for a long duration, resulting in rapid depletion of the battery. Hence,
caution should be exercised by periodically shutting down the node when it is not in the
active routing path or during sensing and processing operations. Another technique is
to use complex data processing techniques to reduce battery consumption.
The network life is heavily dependent on the battery life, and the need for new
energy efficient schemes that take every layer of the sensor node into consideration has
been a foremost challenge in WSN. In addition, predicting the necessary power level
for transmitting control and data packets is quite complex. The sensor’s power level
directly affects the transmission range, thus changing the routing path. For example,
if a neighboring node is damaged, the transmitting sensor node should transmit at a
higher power level, thus reducing its battery life and reducing its chances of participat-
ing in any further intermediate routing operations. Lower power levels can lead to
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 13

interference and cause congestion in the channel and the network. Therefore, power
control can be categorized as a cross-layer design problem, as it affects each and every
layer of the stack.

1.7.2 Power Conservation Mechanism

Power conservation can be divided into active and passive schemes (Figure 1.7). Passive
schemes simply turn off the transceiver when there is no sensing, processing, or com-
munication activity; active schemes work toward improving node operations.
Power conservation above the data link layer can be categorized into structured and
nonstructured mechanisms. In structured mechanisms, all nodes are organized into a
structure, such as a group of clusters. Each cluster contains a head node, and the power
conservation mechanism is performed on each head node. It may perform a synchroni-
zation of sleep/awake schedules on a group of nodes in a cluster to conserve bandwidth,
and assign proxy nodes in situations of head-node failure. SPAN is an example of such
a mechanism.
On the contrary, a nonstructured based mechanism allows each sensor node to
schedule its sleep/awake cycles independently. A node may consider neighboring
nodes’ sleep/awake cycles in tuning its own cycle. Beacon/hello messages are used
to discover its nearest neighbors. Some examples include TDMA scheduling, energy
efficiency using sleep-mode TDMA schedule, S-MAC, and self-stabilizing determin-
istic TDMA.

  

  



 

 

 

 

Figure 1.7. Power Conservation Mechanism

14 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

1.7.3 Communication Media

A huge part of energy consumption is dependent on the medium of communication.

Since WSN uses radio-frequency (RF) communication, a great deal of effort has gone
into modeling the wireless channel so that it can help in characterizing the behavior of
WSN. Furthermore, multipath fading adds new complexities to transmission of wire-
less data in WSN. Research suggests that the radio irregularity model (RIM) is more
applicable than disc or spherical propagation models.

1.7.4 Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology

The use of custom-designed ICs rather than commercial ICs for WSN has greatly
reduced the consumption of battery power and has increased the lifetimes of the sensor
nodes. Furthermore, with advances in miniaturization technology, the size of the sen-
sor nodes has been reduced drastically and scalability has increased. However, integra-
tion of node supply voltages with custom ICs is still an open research problem (Cook
et al. 2006).

1.8 The Routing Problem in WSN

Routing in sensor networks has been very complex and challenging due to their intrin-
sic characteristics that differentiate them from other legacy wireless networks. First and
foremost, the assignment of a global addressing scheme is not possible due to the usage
of a relatively large number of sensor nodes. Furthermore, the ad-hoc, decentralized
nature of WSN compels the nodes to self-organize themselves to form a connected
network. Although routing in WSN has been more data-centric as opposed to address-
centric, it does raise serious security issues concerning authentication of sensor nodes
in a data-centric networking model. Second, the acceptance of a data-centric model
requires an efficient data aggregation model (discussed in Section 1.9.3) to reduce
redundancy and retransmission of packets. In addition, the resource-constrained
nature of WSN requires new energy-aware routing schemes. Some of the challenges
include the following.

• Routing protocols in WSN should aim to reduce the energy consumed per
packet. However, one of the major challenges is the uneven distribution of sensor
nodes. Due to the uneven topology, some intermediate nodes may expend more
energy when transmitting packets. In addition, if nodes are along an active rout-
ing path, the energy depletion rate will be higher than for other nodes. Therefore,
choosing an active routing path should consider the power levels of each node in
the network on a time basis.
• Proposing a global addressing scheme in a WSN network is very challenging,
due to the relatively large number of sensor nodes. In addition, IP headers can be
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 15

very heavy for a processor with limited processing capacity. Hence, connectivity
to the IP network is made only through the sink node.
• Designing position-aware sensor networks is another challenge. For example,
consider a mobile node in an enemy territory that is able to sense some movement
and relay this suspicious activity to the sink node. Soon after the relay, if the node
is compromised or destroyed, it could be difficult for the sink node to find the
exact location, as it is unable to reach the compromised node. Hence, addressing
schemes in WSN should take location into consideration.

1.9 Broadcasting and Multicasting

One of the fundamental operations in WSN is data dissemination from sensor nodes
to their sink nodes and vice versa. This is usually achieved by performing a broadcast,
multicast, or geocast operation.

1.9.1 Broadcasting

Broadcast operation is a “one-to-all” operation, in which packets are disseminated

from a source to all the nodes in the network. Broadcasting can be broadly divided
into simple broadcast schemes, probability-based broadcasting, neighborhood-aware
broadcast mechanism, location-aided broadcasting, energy-efficient broadcasting, and
reliable broadcasting (Ni et al. 1999).

1.9.1.1 Simple Broadcasting

Simple broadcasting does not require any prior knowledge of the network or the states in
which the nodes of the network exist. A few examples of this mechanism include blind
broadcast, probability-based broadcast, distance-based broadcast, area-based broadcast,
and counter-based broadcast. However, in most of the broadcast schemes, there is a
possibility of duplicating packets, which could be devastating in a WSN environment.

1.9.1.2 Multicasting

The multicasting mechanism is “one-to-many.” In this operation, packets are dissemi-

nated from one source to multiple destinations. For example, in WSN, a sink node can
send multicast messages to a selected set of sensor nodes. One of the main objectives of
introducing this scheme is to improve the overall efficiency of the system by decreas-
ing the number of relaying nodes. Multicasting in WSN can be broadly divided into
tree-based and location-based schemes. Examples of tree-based multicasting mecha-
nisms in WSN include multicast-enabled, ad-hoc, on-demand distance vector routing,
16 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

centralized power-aware multicasting, and localized power-aware multicasting.

Location-based multicasting mechanisms include scalable energy-efficient asynchro-
nous dissemination, geographic multicast routing, and two-tier data dissemination.

1.9.1.3 Geocasting

In geocasting, dissemination of packets is done in a set of nodes belonging to a speci-

fied area. For example, the area might be a rectangle, square, circle, or a polygon. This
scheme assumes prior knowledge of the location coordinates of each node before dis-
semination of packets. Geocasting can be further divided into nonguaranteed geocast-
ing and guaranteed geocasting, depending on whether the sensor nodes can receive
geocast packets or not. Examples of nonguaranteed geocasting mechanisms include
unicast routing with area delivery and directed flooding-based geocasting. Guaranteed
geocasting mechanisms include simple flooding, geocasting via efficient broadcasting,
and geocasting via face routing.

1.9.2 Network Discovery

The a-priori information about the location of nodes can play a major role in proper
functioning of the network. However, due to the dynamic environment of WSN, it
may not be possible to have prior knowledge of the topology. Hence, in such ad-hoc,
decentralized architectures, the topology has to be constructed in real time. In addi-
tion, periodic updates about the topology should be disseminated to all the nodes in
the network, as there could be deletion or addition of new sensors in the network.
While dynamic topology discovery in WSN has been an ongoing research topic, self-
discovery of each node with reference to its respective sink nodes is an equally impor-
tant research topic in WSN. Although the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been
used extensively in MANET, its direct application in WSN is not feasible due to the
resource-constrained environment of WSN.

1.9.3 Data Aggregation in WSN

The high-density deployment of sensor nodes in a particular region can lead to a phe-
nomenon called spatial correlation. In this event, identical sensing of data can occur
by nodes in close proximity to each other. Hence, there is a need to minimize redun-
dancy in data received from the node’s immediate neighbors, before transmitting it to
the sink node. It is during such scenarios that data aggregation plays a critical role in
reducing redundancy and minimizing retransmissions, and in doing so, increasing the
overall energy efficiency of the network. Furthermore, the adoption of a data-centric
approach for networking over an address-centric approach has provided more emphasis
for data aggregation.
 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks 17

1.10 Summary

In this chapter, we introduced WSN and looked into its history. We provided a com-
parative analysis of WSN and MANET that led to the conclusion that the security
solutions applicable to MANET cannot be applied directly to WSN. Furthermore, we
reviewed different architectures for WSN and assessed each layer of the WSN stack.
We concluded the chapter with an evaluation of the existing challenges to providing
security in a resource-constrained environment such as WSN.

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applying sensor networks to a smart home. Fourth International Conference on Networked
Computing and Advanced Information Management. IEEE, 2008, 676–681.
Chatzigiannakis, I., A. Kinalis, and S. Nikoletseas. Sink mobility protocols for data collection in
wireless sensor networks. Proceeding of the 4th ACM Workshop on Mobility Management and
Wireless Access. ACM, 2006, 52–59.
Chee-Yee, Chong, and S. P. Kumar. Sensor networks: Evolution, opportunities, and challenges.
Proceedings of the IEEE 91, no. 8 (2003): 1247–1256.
Chen, Lei, Shuang Yang, and Ying Xi. Based on ZigBee wireless sensor network the moni-
toring system design for chemical production process toxic and harmful gas. International
Conference on Computer, Mechatronics, Control and Electronic Engineering (CMCE). IEEE,
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Chapter 2
Security in Wireless
Sensor Networks

In This Chapter

• The various kinds of attacks on WSN

• The attack taxonomy for WSN
• Threats to privacy, control, and availability
• Countermeasures to attacks on WSN

2.1 Introduction

Wireless sensor networks have been a promising approach to many diverse applications
and are playing a major role in the upcoming age of intelligent networking. However,
with the increase in popularity of such networks, there is an ever-increasing demand
for better security. In many military applications, for instance, sensor networks are
involved in mission-critical tasks, and security therefore is a top priority in such situa-
tions. In addition, resource, computing, and environmental constraints on WSN (dis-
cussed in Chapter 1) pose new challenges in securing such networks. Security in WSN
is especially challenging due to the inherent broadcast nature of wireless communica-
tion. Any radio equipment can participate, either passively or actively, in any form of
radio communication, by tuning the equipment to the same frequency band as that of
the communicating nodes.
The demand for WSN is increasing even faster with the introduction of miniatur-
ization technology. Consequently, there has been mass production of sensor nodes with

19
20 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

mediocre hardware, which is usually not tamper-resistant. Hence, nodes can easily be
compromised by attackers, leading to a completely new set of attacks. In this chapter,
we review the different kinds of attacks that can be carried out on WSN and then
briefly look into state-of-the-art security in WSN.

2.2 Attacks on WSN

Wireless sensor networks are a subclass of wireless networks in general, so most kinds
of attacks that can be directed at wireless networks can be directed at WSN. However,
due to the additional challenges as discussed in Chapter 1, WSN breed a whole new
set of attacks that can be classified into “mote-class attacks” and “laptop-class attacks”
(Karlof and Wagner 2003). In a mote-class attack, the attacker takes control of a few
compromised nodes and has capacity no greater than that of these ordinary sensor
nodes. Hence, he has to launch attacks without depleting his resources (storage, com-
putation, and bandwidth). Moreover, the attacker is restricted in his coverage due to
limited transmission power. In contrast, the laptop-class attacker is resource-abundant
(high transmitting power, longer battery life, high-speed processors, and highly recep-
tive omnidirectional antennae). Hence, he has greater coverage and diversity in terms
of the attacks that he can launch. Figure 2.1 portrays the attack taxonomy for WSN,
while Table 2.1 shows the attack classification through a layered approach.
In general, attacks can be divided into active and passive attacks.

• Passive attack: In this type of attack, the attacker is able to intercept and moni-
tor data between communicating nodes, but does not tamper or modify packets
for fear of raising suspicion of malicious activity among the nodes. For example,
in traffic analysis, the attacker may not be able to decode encrypted data, but
can find useful information by analyzing headers of packets, their sizes, and the
frequency of transmission. In WSN, reconnaissance can also be performed to
understand information exchange between communicating nodes, particularly
at data aggregation points. Furthermore, routing information can be exploited
using traffic analysis.
• Active attack: In this type of attack, the attacker actively participates in all forms
of communication (control and data) and may modify, delete, reorder, and replay
messages or even send spoofed illicit messages to nodes in the network. Some
other active attacks include node capturing, tampering with routing informa-
tion, and resource exhaustion attacks. Peculiar to WSN, the attacker can modify
the environment surrounding sensors, which could affect the sensed phenomena.

2.2.1 Threats to Privacy

In WSN, threats to privacy can be further classified into reconnaissance and

eavesdropping.
Figure 2.1. Attack Taxonomy for WSN
22 Security for Wireless Sensor Networks using Identity-Based Cryptography

Table 2.1. Attack Classification Using a Layered Approach

Layer Attack vectors

Application Data corruption and repudiation
Transport Session hijacking and SYN flooding
IP layer Byzantine, resource consumption,
location disclosure, wormhole and
black hole
Data link Traffic analysis
Physical Interference and jamming
Multilayer attack DoS, replay, man-in-the-middle
and replay.

2.2.1.1 Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance refers to intelligent gathering or probing to access the vulnerabilities

in a network, to launch a full-scale attack later. Reconnaissance attacks can be further
classified into active and passive. Passive reconnaissance attacks include the collection
of network information through indirect or direct methods, but without probing the
targe; active reconnaissance attacks involve the process of gathering traffic with the
intention of eliciting responses from the target.

2.2.1.2 Eavesdropping

Eavesdropping is the act of listening secretly to a private conversation. However, in the

paradigm of WSN, eavesdropping is an operation to learn the “aggregate data” that is
being collected by the entire network. Hence, eavesdropping between two specific sen-
sor nodes may not help the attacker in thoroughly understanding the entire network. It
can be further classified into active and passive eavesdropping.

• Active eavesdropping: In this case, the adversary actively sends queries to other
nodes in an attempt to instigate them to respond to his queries, and in exchange
will be able to comprehend the precise task assigned to the nodes in the net-
work. Usually, the attacker launches a “man-in-the-middle attack” (discussed
in the next section) to infiltrate into the network and enforce himself on the
active path.
• Passive eavesdropping: The attacker inserts himself into the active path, unbe-
knownst to other nodes in the network. He then passively listens to all traffic
sent over the broadcast medium. It may be difficult to detect a passive eaves-
dropping attack, as the attacker may be operating in stealth mode. (Detection
mechanisms are covered in the chapter on intrusion detection systems.)
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
great many Americans who have not, as yet, succumbed to English
bourgeois theology and who do not believe, for instance, that Isaac
Newton is of greater philosophic importance than Kant, this
Encyclopædia will be of far more value to an Englishman than to an
American.
The first distortion which will impress one who seeks information
in the Britannica is to be found in the treatment of English empirical
philosophers—that is, of John Locke, Isaac Newton, George
Berkeley, Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, Joseph Butler, Mandeville,
Hume, Adam Smith and David Hartley. Locke receives fifteen
columns of detailed exposition, with inset headings. “He was,” we
are told, “typically English in his reverence for facts” and “a signal
example in the Anglo-Saxon world of the love of attainable truth for
the sake of truth and goodness.” Then we are given the quotation:
“If Locke made few discoveries, Socrates made none.” Furthermore,
he was “memorable in the record of human progress.”
Isaac Newton receives no less than nineteen columns filled with
specific and unstinted praise; and in the three-and-a-half column
biography of George Berkeley we learn that Berkeley’s “new
conception marks a distinct stage of progress in human thought”;
that “he once for all lifted the problem of metaphysics to a higher
level,” and, with Hume, “determined the form into which later
metaphysical questions have been thrown.” Shaftesbury, whose main
philosophical importance was due to his ethical and moral
speculations in refutation of Hobbes’ egoism, is represented by a
biography of four and a half columns!
Hume receives over fourteen columns, with inset headings; Adam
Smith, nearly nine columns, five and a half of which are devoted to a
detailed consideration of his Wealth of Nations. Hutcheson, the
ethical moralist who drew the analogy between beauty and virtue—
the doctrinaire of the moral sense and the benevolent feelings—is
given no less than five columns; while Joseph Butler, the philosophic
divine who, we are told, is a “typical instance of the English
philosophical mind” and whose two basic premises were the
existence of a theological god and the limitation of human
knowledge, is given six and a half columns!
On the other hand, Mandeville receives only a column and two-
thirds. To begin with, he was of French parentage, and his
philosophy (according to the Britannica) “has always been
stigmatized as false, cynical and degrading.” He did not believe in
the higher Presbyterian virtues, and read hypocrisy into the vaunted
goodness of the English. Although in a history of modern philosophy
he is deserving of nearly equal space with Butler, in the Britannica he
is given only a little over one-fifth of the space! Even David Hartley,
the English physician who supplemented Hume’s theory of
knowledge, is given nearly as much consideration as the “degrading”
Mandeville. And Joseph Priestley, who merely popularized these
theories, is given no less than two columns.
Let us turn now to what has been called the “philosophy of the
enlightenment” in France and Germany, and we shall see the
exquisite workings of British moral prejudice in all its purity. Voltaire,
we learn, “was one of the most astonishing, if not exactly one of the
more admirable, figures of letters.” He had “cleverness,” but not
“genius”; and his great fault was an “inveterate superficiality.” Again:
“Not the most elaborate work of Voltaire is of much value for
matter.” (The biography, a derogatory and condescending one, is
written by the eminent moralist, George Saintsbury.)
Condillac, who is given far less space than either Berkeley or
Shaftesbury, only half of the space given Hutcheson, and only a little
over one-third of the space given Joseph Butler, is set down as
important for “having established systematically in France the
principles of Locke.” But his “genius was not of the highest order”;
and in his analysis of the mind “he missed out the active and
spiritual side of human experience.” James Mill did not like him, and
his method of imaginative reconstruction “was by no means suited
to English ways of thinking.” This latter shortcoming no doubt
accounts for the meagre and uncomplimentary treatment Condillac
receives in the great British reference work which is devoted so
earnestly to “English ways of thinking.”
Helvétius, whose theory of equality is closely related to Condillac’s
doctrine of psychic passivity, is given even shorter shrift, receiving
only a column and a third; and it is noted that “there is no doubt
that his thinking was unsystematic.” Diderot, however, fares much
better, receiving five columns of biography. But then, more and more
“did Diderot turn for the hope of the race to virtue; in other words,
to such a regulation of conduct and motive as shall make us tender,
pitiful, simple, contented,”—an attitude eminently fitted to “English
ways of thinking”! And Diderot’s one great literary passion, we learn,
was Richardson, the English novelist.
La Mettrie, the atheist, who held no brief for the pious virtues or
for the theological soul so beloved by the British, receives just half a
column of biography in which the facts of his doctrine are set down
more in sorrow than in anger. Von Holbach, the German-Parisian
prophet of earthly happiness, who denied the existence of a deity
and believed that the soul became extinct at physical death, receives
only a little more space than La Mettrie—less than a column. But
then, the uprightness of Von Holbach’s character “won the friendship
of many to whom his philosophy was repugnant.”
Montesquieu, however, is given five columns with liberal praise—
both space and eulogy being beyond his deserts. Perhaps an
explanation of such generosity lies in this sentence which we quote
from his biography: “It is not only that he is an Anglo-maniac, but
that he is rather English than French in style and thought.”
Rousseau, on the other hand, possessed no such exalted qualities;
and the biography of this great Frenchman is shorter than Adam
Smith’s and only a little longer than that of the English divine,
Joseph Butler! The Britannica informs us that Rousseau’s moral
character was weak and that he did not stand very high as a man.
Furthermore, he was not a philosopher; the essence of his religion
was sentimentalism; and during the last ten or fifteen years of his
life he was not sane. If you wish to see how unjust and biased is this
moral denunciation of Rousseau, turn to any unprejudiced history of
philosophy, and compare the serious and lengthy consideration given
him, with the consideration given the English moral thinkers who
prove such great favorites with the Britannica’s editors.
The German “philosophers of the enlightenment” are given even
less consideration. Christian Wolff, whose philosophy admittedly held
almost undisputed sway in Germany till eclipsed by Kantianism,
receives only a column-and-a-half biography, only half the space
given to Samuel Clarke, the English theological writer, and equal
space with John Norris, the English philosophical divine, and with
Arthur Collier, the English High Church theologian. Even Anthony
Collins, the English deist, receives nearly as long a biography. Moses
Mendelssohn draws only two and a half columns; Crusius, only half a
column; Lambert, only a little over three-fourths of a column;
Reimarus, only a column and a third, in which he is considered from
the standpoint of the English deists; and Edelmann and Tetens have
no biographies whatever!
Kant, as I have noted, receives less biographical space than Isaac
Newton, and only about a fifth more space than does either John
Locke or Hume. It is unnecessary to indicate here the prejudice
shown by these comparisons. Every one is cognizant of Kant’s
tremendous importance in the history of thought, and knows what
relative consideration should be given him in a work like the
Britannica. Hamann, “the wise man of the North,” who was the
foremost of Kant’s opponents, receives only a column-and-a-quarter
biography, in which he is denounced. His writings, to one not
acquainted with the man, must be “entirely unintelligible and, from
their peculiar, pietistic tone and scriptural jargon, probably
offensive.” And he expressed himself in “uncouth, barbarous
fashion.” Herder, however, another and lesser opponent of
Kantianism, receives four and a half columns. Jacobi receives three;
Reinhold, half a column; Maimon, two-thirds of a column; and
Schiller, four and a half columns. Compare these allotments of space
with: Thomas Hill Green, the English neo-Kantian, two and two-
thirds columns; Richard Price, a column and three-fourths;
Martineau, the English philosophic divine, five columns; Ralph
Cudworth, two columns; and Joseph Butler, six and a half columns!
In the treatment of German philosophic romanticism the
Encyclopædia Britannica is curiously prejudiced. The particular
philosophers of this school—especially the ones with speculative
systems—who had a deep and wide influence on English thought,
are treated with adequate liberality. But the later idealistic thinkers,
who substituted criticism for speculation, receive scant attention,
and in several instances are omitted entirely. For English readers
such a disproportioned and purely national attitude may be
adequate, since England’s intellectualism is, in the main, insular. But,
it must be remembered, the Britannica has assumed the character of
an American institution; and, to date, this country has not quite
reached that state of British complacency where it chooses to ignore
all information save that which is narrowly relative to English culture.
Some of us are still un-British enough to want an encyclopædia of
universal information. The Britannica is not such a reference work,
and the manner in which it deals with the romantic philosophers
furnishes ample substantiation of this fact.
Fichte, for instance, whose philosophy embodies a moral idealism
eminently acceptable to “English ways of thinking,” receives seven
columns of biography. Schelling, whose ideas were tainted with
mythical mysticism, but who was not an evolutionist in the modern
sense of the word, receives five columns. Hegel, who was, in a
sense, the great English philosophical idol and whose doctrines had
a greater influence in Great Britain than those of any other thinker, is
given no less than fifteen columns, twice the space that is given to
Rousseau, and five-sixths of the space that is given to Kant! Even
Schleiermacher is given almost equal space with Rousseau, and his
philosophy is interpreted as an effort “to reconcile science and
philosophy with religion and theology, and the modern world with
the Christian church.” Also, the focus of his thought, culture and life,
we are told, “was religion and theology.”
 Schopenhauer is one of the few foreign philosophers who receive
adequate treatment in the Encyclopædia Britannica. But Boström, in
whose works the romantic school attained its systematic
culmination, receives just twenty-four lines, less space than is
devoted to Abraham Tucker, the English moralist, or to Garth
Wilkinson, the English Swedenborgian; and about the same amount
of space as is given to John Morell, the English Congregationalist
minister who turned philosopher. And Frederick Christian Sibbern
receives no biography whatever!
Kierkegaard, whose influence in the North has been profound,
receives only half a column, equal space with Andrew Baxter, the
feeble Scottish metaphysician; and only half the space given to
Thomas Brown, another Scotch “philosopher.” Fries who, with
Herbart, was the forerunner of modern psychology and one of the
leading representatives of the critical philosophy, is given just one
column; but Beneke, a follower of Fries, who approached more
closely to the English school, is allotted twice the amount of space
that Fries receives.
The four men who marked the dissolution of the Hegelian school—
Krause, Weisse, I. H. Fichte and Feuerbach—receive as the sum total
of all their biographies less space than is given to the English divine,
James Martineau, or to Francis Hutcheson. (In combating
Hegelianism these four thinkers invaded the precincts of British
admiration.) In the one-column biography of Krause we are told that
the spirit of his thought is difficult to follow and that his terminology
is artificial. Weisse receives only twenty-three lines; and I. H. Fichte,
the son of J. G. Fichte, receives only two-thirds of a column.
Feuerbach, who marked the transition between romanticism and
positivism and who accordingly holds an important position in the
evolution of modern thought, is accorded a biography of a column
and a half, shorter than that of Richard Price. Feuerbach, however,
unlike Price, was an anti-theological philosopher, and is severely
criticised for his spiritual shortcomings.
 Let us glance quickly at the important philosophers of positivism
as represented in the Encyclopædia Britannica. At the end of the
seventeenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth centuries the
principal French philosophers representative of schools were de
Maistre, Maine de Biran, Ampère, Saint-Simon and Victor Cousin. De
Maistre, the most important philosopher of the principle of authority,
is given a biography of a column and a third, is highly praised for his
ecclesiasticism, and is permitted to be ranked with Hobbes. Maine de
Biran receives a little over a column; Ampère, less than a column;
and Saint-Simon, two and a third columns.
Victor Cousin is given the astonishing amount of space of eleven
columns; but just why he should have been treated in this
extravagant manner is not clear, for we are told that his search for
principles was not profound and that he “left no distinctive,
permanent principles of philosophy.” Nor does it seem possible that
he should draw nearly as much space as Rousseau and Montesquieu
combined simply because he left behind interesting analyses and
expositions of the work of Locke and the Scottish philosophers. Even
Comte is given only four and a half columns more.
The English philosophers of the nineteenth century before John
Stuart Mill are awarded space far in excess of their importance,
comparatively speaking. For instance, James Mill receives two
columns of biography; Coleridge, who “did much to deepen and
liberalize Christian thought in England,” five and three-fourths
columns; Carlyle, nine and two-thirds columns; William Hamilton,
two and three-fourths columns; Henry Mansel, a disciple of
Hamilton’s, two-thirds of a column; Whewell, over a column; and
Bentham, over three and a half columns.
Bentham’s doctrines “have become so far part of the common
thought of the time, that there is hardly an educated man who does
not accept as too clear for argument truths which were invisible till
Bentham pointed them out.... The services rendered by Bentham to
the world would not, however, be exhausted even by the practical
adoption of every one of his recommendations. There are no limits
to the good results of his introduction of a true method of reasoning
into the moral and political sciences.” John Stuart Mill, whose
philosophy is “generally spoken of as being typically English,”
receives nine and a half columns; Charles Darwin, seven columns;
and Herbert Spencer, over five.
Positivism in Germany is represented by Dühring in a biography
which is only three-fourths of a column in length—an article which is
merely an attack, both personal and general. “His patriotism,” we
learn, “is fervent, but narrow and exclusive.” (Dühring idolized
Frederick the Great.) Ardigò, the important Italian positivist, receives
no mention whatever in the Encyclopædia, although in almost any
adequate history of modern philosophy, even a brief one, you will
find a discussion of his work.
With the exception of Lotze, the philosophers of the new idealism
receive scant treatment in the Britannica. Hartmann and Fechner are
accorded only one column each; and Wilhelm Wundt, whose
æsthetic and psychological researches outstrip even his significant
philosophical work, is accorded only half a column! Francis Herbert
Bradley has no biography—a curious oversight, since he is English;
and Fouillée receives only a little over half a column.
The most inadequate and prejudiced treatment in the Britannica
of any modern philosopher is to be found in the biography of
Nietzsche, which is briefer than Mrs. Humphry Ward’s! Not only is
Nietzsche accorded less space than is given to such British
philosophical writers as Dugald Stewart, Henry Sidgwick, Richard
Price, John Norris, Thomas Hill Green, James Frederick Ferrier, Adam
Ferguson, Ralph Cudworth, Anthony Collins, Arthur Collier, Samuel
Clarke and Alexander Bain—an absurd and stupid piece of narrow
provincial prejudice—but the biography itself is superficial and
inaccurate. The supposed doctrine of Nietzsche is here used to
expose the personal opinions of the tutor of Corpus Christi College
who was assigned the task of interpreting Nietzsche to the readers
of the Britannica. It would be impossible to gather any clear or
adequate idea of Nietzsche and his work from this biased and moral
source. Here middle-class British insularity reaches its high-water
mark.
Other important modern thinkers, however, are given but little
better treatment. Lange receives only three-fourths of a column;
Paulsen, less than half a column; Ernst Mach, only seventeen lines;
Eucken, only twenty-eight lines, with a list of his works; and
Renouvier, two-thirds of a column. J. C. Maxwell, though, the
Cambridge professor, gets two columns—twice the space given
Nietzsche!
In the biography of William James we discern once more the
contempt which England has for this country. Here is a man whose
importance is unquestioned even in Europe, and who stands out as
one of the significant figures in modern thought; yet the
Encyclopædia Britannica, that “supreme book of knowledge,” gives
him a biography of just twenty-eight lines! And it is Americans who
are furnishing the profits for this English reference work!
Perhaps the British editors of this encyclopædia think that we
should feel greatly complimented at having William James admitted
at all when so many other important moderns of Germany and
France and America are excluded. But so long as unimportant
English philosophical writers are given biographies, we have a right
to expect, in a work which calls itself an “international dictionary of
biography,” the adequate inclusion of the more deserving
philosophers of other nations.
But what do we actually find? You may hunt the Encyclopædia
Britannica through, yet you will not see the names of John Dewey
and Stanley Hall mentioned! John Dewey, an American, is perhaps
the world’s leading authority on the philosophy of education; but the
British editors of the Encyclopædia do not consider him worth
noting, even in a casual way. Furthermore, Stanley Hall, another
American, who stands in the front rank of the world’s genetic
psychologists, is not so much as mentioned. And yet Hall’s great
work, Adolescence, appeared five years before the Britannica went
to press! Nor has Josiah Royce a biography, despite the fact that he
was one of the leaders in the philosophical thought of America, and
was even made an LL.D. by Aberdeen University in 1900. These
omissions furnish excellent examples of the kind of broad and
universal culture which is supposed to be embodied in the
Britannica.
But these are by no means all the omissions of the world’s
important modern thinkers. Incredible as it may seem, there is no
biography of Hermann Cohen, who elaborated the rationalistic
elements in Kant’s philosophy; of Alois Riehl, the positivist neo-
Kantian; of Windelband and Rickert, whose contributions to the
theory of eternal values in criticism are of decided significance to-
day; of Freud, a man who has revolutionized modern psychology
and philosophic determinism; of Amiel Boutroux, the modern French
philosopher of discontinuity; of Henri Bergson, whose influence and
popularity need no exposition here; of Guyau, one of the most
effective critics of English utilitarianism and evolutionism; or of Jung.
When we add Roberto Ardigò, Weininger, Edelmann, Tetans, and
Sibbern to this list of philosophic and psychologic writers who are
not considered of sufficient importance to receive biographical
mention in the Encyclopædia Britannica, we have, at a glance, the
prejudicial inadequacy and incompleteness of this “great” English
reference work. Nor can any excuse be offered that the works of
these men appeared after the Britannica was printed. At the time it
went to press even the most modern of these writers held a position
of sufficient significance or note to have been included.
In closing, and by way of contrast, let me set down some of the
modern British philosophical writers who are given liberal
biographies; Robert Adamson, the Scottish critical historian of
philosophy; Alexander Bain; Edward and John Caird, Scottish
philosophic divines; Harry Calderwood, whose work was based on
the contention that fate implies knowledge and on the doctrine of
divine sanction; David George Ritchie, an unimportant Scotch
thinker; Henry Sidgwick, an orthodox religionist and one of the
founders of the Society for Psychical Research; James H. Stirling, an
expounder of Hegel and Kant; William Wallace, an interpreter of
Hegel; and Garth Wilkinson, the Swedenborgian homeopath.
Such is the brief record of the manner in which the world’s
modern philosophers are treated in the Encyclopædia Britannica.
From this work hundreds of thousands of Americans are garnering
their educational ideas.
 XI
RELIGION

Throughout several of the foregoing chapters I have laid

considerable emphasis on the narrow parochial attitude of the
Britannica’s editors and on the constant intrusion of England’s
middle-class Presbyterianism into nearly every branch of æsthetics.
The Britannica, far from being the objective and unbiased work it
claims to be, assumes a personal and prejudiced attitude, and the
culture of the world is colored and tinctured by that viewpoint. It
would appear self-obvious to say that the subject of religion in any
encyclopædia whose aim is to be universal, should be limited to the
articles on religious matters. But in the Encyclopædia Britannica this
is not the case. As I have shown, those great artists and thinkers
who do not fall within the range of bourgeois England’s suburban
morality, are neglected, disparaged, or omitted entirely.
Not only patriotic prejudice, but evangelical prejudice as well,
characterizes this encyclopædia’s treatment of the world’s great
achievements; and nowhere does this latter bias exhibit itself more
unmistakably than in the articles relating to Catholicism. The trickery,
the manifest ignorance, the contemptuous arrogance, the
inaccuracies, the venom, and the half-truths which are encountered
in the discussion of the Catholic Church and its history almost pass
the bounds of credibility. The wanton prejudice exhibited in this
department of the Britannica cannot fail to find resentment even in
non-Catholics, like myself; and for scholars, either in or out of the
Church, this encyclopædia, as a source of information, is not only
worthless but grossly misleading.
The true facts relating to the inclusion of this encyclopædia’s
article on Catholicism, as showing the arrogant and unscholarly
attitude of the editors, are as interesting to those outside of the
Church as to Catholics themselves. And it is for the reason that these
articles are typical of a great many of the Encyclopædia’s discussions
of culture in general that I call attention both to the misinformation
contained in them and to the amazing refusal of the Britannica’s
editors to correct the errors when called to their attention at a time
when correction was possible. The treatment of the Catholic Church
by the Britannica is quite in keeping with its treatment of other
important subjects, and it emphasizes, perhaps better than any
other topic, not only the Encyclopædia’s petty bias and
incompleteness, but the indefensible and mendacious advertising by
which this set of books was foisted upon the American public. And it
also gives direct and irrefutable substantiation to my accusation that
the spirit of the Encyclopædia Britannica is closely allied to the
provincial religious doctrines of the British bourgeoisie; and that
therefore it is a work of the most questionable value.
Over five years ago T. J. Campbell, S. J., in The Catholic Mind,
wrote an article entitled The Truth About the Encyclopædia
Britannica—an article which, from the standpoint of an authority,
exposed the utter unreliability of this Encyclopædia’s discussion of
Catholicism. The article is too long to quote here, but enough of it
will be given to reveal the inadequacy of the Britannica as a source
of accurate information. “The Encyclopædia Britannica,” the article
begins, “has taken an unfair advantage of the public. By issuing all
its volumes simultaneously it prevented any protests against
misstatements until the whole harm was done. Henceforth prudent
people will be less eager to put faith in prospectuses and promises.
The volumes were delivered in two installments a couple of months
apart. The article Catholic Church, in which the animus of the
Encyclopædia might have been detected, should naturally have been
in the first set. It was adroitly relegated to the end of the second
set, under the caption Roman Catholic Church.
“It had been intimated to us that the Encyclopædia’s account of
the Jesuits was particularly offensive. That is our excuse for
considering it first. Turning to it we found that the same old battered
scarecrow had been set up. The article covers ten and a half large,
double-columned, closely-printed pages, and requires more than an
hour in its perusal. After reading it two or three times we closed the
book with amazement, not at the calumnies with which the article
teems and to which custom has made us callous, but at the lack of
good judgment, of accurate scholarship, of common information,
and business tact which it reveals in those who are responsible for
its publication.
“It ought to be supposed that the subscribers to this costly
encyclopædia had a right to expect in the discussion of all the
questions presented an absolute or quasi-absolute freedom from
partisan bias, a sincere and genuine presentation of all the results of
the most modern research, a positive exclusion of all second-hand
and discredited matter, and a scrupulous adherence to historical
truth. In the article in question all these essential conditions are
woefully lacking.
“Encyclopædias of any pretence take especial pride in the
perfection and completeness of their bibliographies. It is a stamp of
scholarship and a guarantee of the thoroughness and reliability of
the article, which is supposed to be an extract and a digest of all
that has been said or written on the subject. The bibliography
annexed to the article on the Jesuits, is not only deplorably meagre,
but hopelessly antiquated. Thus, for instance, only three works of
the present century are quoted; one of them apparently for no
reason whatever, viz.: The History of the Jesuits of North America, in
three volumes, by Thomas Hughes, S. J., for, as far as we are able to
see, the Encyclopædia article makes no mention of their being with
Lord Baltimore in Maryland, or of the preceding troubles of the
Jesuits in England, which were considered important enough for a
monumental work, but evidently not for a compiler of the
Encyclopædia. Again, the nine words, ‘laboring amongst the Hurons
and Iroquois of North America,’ form the sum total of all the
information vouchsafed us about the great missions of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though we are referred to the
seventy-three volumes of Thwaites’ edition of the Jesuits Relations.
Had the author or editor even glanced at these books he might have
seen that besides the Huron and Iroquois missions, which were very
brief in point of time and very restricted in their territorial limitations,
the Jesuit missions with the Algonquins extended from
Newfoundland to Alaska, and are still continued; he would have
found that most of the ethnological, religious, linguistic and
geographical knowledge we have of aboriginal North America comes
from those Jesuit Relations; and possibly without much research the
sluggish reader would have met with a certain inconspicuous
Marquette; but as Englishmen, up to the Civil War, are said to have
imagined that the Mississippi was the dividing line between the
North and South, the value of the epoch-making discovery of the
great river never entered this slow foreigner’s mind. Nor is there any
reference to the gigantic labors of the Jesuits in Mexico; but perhaps
Mexico is not considered to be in North America.
“Nor is there in this bibliography any mention of the Monumenta
Historica Societatis Jesu, nor of the Monumenta Pædagogica, nor is
there any allusion to the great and learned works of Duhr, Tacchi-
Venturi, Fouqueray, and Kroes, which have just been published and
are mines of information on the history of the Society in Spain,
Germany, Italy and France; and although we are told of the Historia
Societatis Jesu by Orlandini, which bears the very remote imprint of
1620, is very difficult to obtain, and covers a very restricted period,
there is apparently no knowledge of the classic work of Jouvency,
nor is Sacchini cited, nor Polanco. The Bibliothèque des écrivains de
la Compagnie de Jésus, by De Backer, not ‘Backer,’ as the
Encyclopædia has it, is listed; but it is simply shocking to find that
there was no knowledge of Sommervogel, who is the continuator of
De Backer, and who has left us a most scholarly and splendid work
which is brought down to our own times, and for which De Backer’s,
notable though it be, was only a preparation. In brief, the
bibliography is absolutely worthless, not only for a scholar, but even
for the average reader.
“On the other hand it is quite in keeping with the character of the
writers who were chosen for the article. The New York Evening Post
informs us that before 1880, when a search for a suitable scribe for
the Jesuit article was instituted, some one started on a hunt for
Cardinal Newman, but the great man had no time. Then he thought
of Manning, who, of course, declined, and finally knowing no other
‘Jesuit’ he gave the work to Littledale. Littledale, as everyone knows,
was an Anglican minister, notorious not only for his antagonism to
the Jesuits, but also to the Catholic Church. He gladly addressed
himself to the task, and forthwith informed the world that ‘the
Jesuits controlled the policy of Spain’; that ‘it was a matter of
common knowledge that they kindled the Franco-Prussian war of
1870’; that ‘Pope Julius II dispensed the Father General from his vow
of poverty,’ though that warrior Pope expired eight years before
Ignatius sought the solitude of Manresa, and had as yet no idea of a
Society of Jesus; again, that ‘the Jesuits from the beginning never
obeyed the Pope’; that ‘in their moral teaching they can attenuate
and even defend any kind of sin’; and, finally, not to be too prolix in
this list of absurdities, that, prior to the Vatican Council, ‘they had
filled up all the sees of Latin Christendom with bishops of their own
selection.’
“It is true that only the last mentioned charge appears in the
present edition, and it is a fortunate concession for Littledale’s
suffering victims; for if ‘there are no great intellects among the
Jesuits,’ and if they are only a set of ‘respectable mediocrities,’ as
this ‘revised’ article tells us, they can point with pride to this feat
which makes a dozen Franco-Prussian wars pale into insignificance
alongside it. We doubt, however, if the 700 prelates who sat in the
Vatican Council would accept that explanation of their promotion in
the prelacy; and we feel certain that Cardinal Manning, who was one
of the great figures in that assembly, would resent it, at least if it be
true, as the Encyclopædia assures us, that he considered the
suppression of the Society in 1773 to be the work of God, and was
sure that another 1773 was coming.
“The wonder is that a writer who can be guilty of such absurdities
should, after twenty years, be summoned from the dead as a
witness to anything at all. But on the other hand it is not surprising
when we see that the Rev. Ethelred Taunton, who is also dead and
buried, should be made his yoke-fellow in ploughing over this old
field, to sow again these poisonous weeds. There are many post-
mortems in the Encyclopædia. Had the careless editors of the
Encyclopædia consulted Usher’s Reconstruction of the English
Church, they would have found Taunton described as an author ‘who
makes considerable parade of the amount of his research, but has
not gone very far and has added little, if anything, to what we knew
before. As a whole, his book on The History of the Jesuits in England
is uncritical and prejudiced.’
“Such is the authority the Encyclopædia appeals to for
information. That is bad enough, but in the list of authors Taunton is
actually described as a ‘Jesuit.’ Possibly it is one of the punishments
the Almighty has meted out to him for his misuse of the pen while
on earth. But he never did half the harm to the Jesuits by his ill-
natured assaults as he has to the Encyclopædia in being mistaken
for an ‘S. J.’; for although there are some people who will believe
anything an encyclopædia tells them, there are others who are not
so meek and who will be moved to inquire how, if the editor of this
publication is so lamentably ignorant of the personality and
antecedents of his contributors, he can vouch for the reliability of
what newspaper men very properly call the stuff that comes into the
office. We are not told who revised the writings of those two dead
men, one of whom departed this life twenty, the other four years
ago; and we have to be satisfied with a posthumous and prejudiced
and partly anonymous account of a great Order, about which many
important books have been written since the demise of the original
calumniators, and with which apparently the unknown reviser is
unacquainted.
“It may interest the public to know that many of these errors were
pointed out to the managers of the Encyclopædia at their New York
office when the matter was still in page proof and could have been
corrected. Evidently it was not thought worth while to pay any
attention to the protest.
 “It is true that in the minds of some of their enemies, especially in
certain parts of the habitable globe, Catholics have no right to resent
anything that is said of their practices and beliefs, no matter how
false or grotesque such statements may be; and, consequently, we
are not surprised at the assumption by the Encyclopædia Britannica
of its usual contemptuous attitude. Thus, for instance, on turning to
the articles Casuistry and Roman Catholic Church we find them
signed ‘St. C.’ Naturally and supernaturally to be under the guidance
of a Saint C. or a Saint D. always inspires confidence in a Catholic;
but this ‘St. C.’ turns out to be only the Viscount St. Cyres, a scion of
the noble house of Sir Stafford Northcote, the one time leader of the
House of Commons, who died in 1887. In the Viscount’s ancestral
tree we notice that Sir Henry Stafford Northcote, first Baronet, has
appended to his name the title ‘Prov. Master of Devonshire
Freemasons.’ What ‘Prov.’ means we do not know, but we are
satisfied with the remaining part of the description. The Viscount
was educated at Eton, and Merton College, Oxford. He is a layman
and a clubman, and as far as we know is not suspected of being a
Catholic. A search in the ‘Who’s Who?’ failed to reveal anything on
that point, though a glance at the articles over his name will
dispense us from any worry about his religious status.
“We naturally ask why he should have been chosen to enlighten
the world on Catholic topics? ‘Because,’ says the editor of the
Encyclopædia Britannica, ‘the Viscount St. Cyres has probably more
knowledge of the development of theology in the Roman Catholic
Church than any other person in that Church.’
“The Church was unaware that it had at its disposal such a source
of information. It will be news to many, but we are inclined to ask
how the Viscount acquired that marvelous knowledge. It would
require a life-long absorption in the study of divinity quite
incompatible with the social duties of one of his station.
Furthermore, we should like to know whence comes the competency
of the editor to decide on the ability of the Viscount, and to pass
judgment on the correctness of his contribution? That also supposes
an adequate knowledge of all that the dogmatic, moral and mystic
theologians ever wrote, a life-long training in the language and
methods of the science, and a special intellectual aptitude to
comprehend the sublime speculations of the Church’s divines.
“It will not be unkind to deny him such qualifications, especially
now, for did he not tell his friends at the London banquet: ‘During all
these (seven) years I have been busy in the blacksmith’s shop (of
the editor’s room) and I do not hear the noise that is made by the
hammers all around me’—nor, it might be added, does he hear what
is going on outside the Britannica’s forge.
“Meantime, we bespeak the attention of all the Catholic
theologians in every part of the world to the preposterous invitation
to come to hear the last word about ‘the development of theology’ in
the Catholic Church from a scholar whose claim to theological
distinction is that ‘he has written about Fénélon and Pascal.’ The
Britannica shows scant respect to Catholic scholarship and Catholic
intelligence.”
Father Campbell then devotes several pages to a specific
indictment of the misstatements and the glaring errors to be found
in several of the articles relating to the Catholic Church. He quotes
eight instances of St. Cyres’ inaccurate and personal accusations,
and also many passages from the articles on Papacy, Celibacy and
St. Catherine of Siena—passages which show the low and biased
standard of scholarship by which they were written. The injustice
contained in them is obvious even to a superficial student of history.
At the close of these quotations he accuses the Britannica of being
neither up-to-date, fair, nor well-informed. “It repeats old calumnies
that have been a thousand times refuted, and it persistently selects
the Church’s enemies who hold her up to ridicule and contempt. We
are sorry for those who have been lavish in their praises of a book
which is so defective, so prejudiced, so misleading and so insulting.”
It seems that while the Britannica’s contributions to the general
misinformation of the world were being discussed, the editor wrote
to one of his subscribers saying that the Catholics were very much
vexed because the article on the Jesuits was not “sufficiently
eulogistic.”
“He is evidently unaware,” Father Campbell goes on to comment,
“that the Society of Jesus is sufficiently known both in the Church
and the world not to need a monument in the graveyard of the
Encyclopædia Britannica. Not the humblest Brother in the Order
expected anything but calumny and abuse when he saw appended
to the article the initials of the well-known assassins of the Society’s
reputation. Not one was surprised, much less displeased, at the
absence of eulogy, sufficient or otherwise; but, on the contrary, they
were all amazed to find the loudly trumpeted commercial enterprise,
which had been so persistently clamorous of its possession of the
most recent results of research in every department of learning,
endeavoring to palm off on the public such shopworn travesties of
historical and religious truth. The editor is mistaken if he thinks they
pouted. Old and scarred veterans are averse to being patted on the
back by their enemies.
“It is not, however, the ill-judged gibe that compels us to revert to
the Society, as much as the suspicion that the editor of the
Encyclopædia Britannica seems to fancy that we had nothing to say
beyond calling attention to his dilapidated bibliography, which he
labels with the very offensive title of ‘the bibliography of Jesuitism’—
a term which is as incorrect as it is insulting—or that we merely
objected to the employment of two dead and discredited witnesses
to tell the world what kind of an organization the Society is.
“It may be, moreover, that we misjudged a certain portion of the
reading public in treating the subject so lightly, and as the
Encyclopædia is continually reiterating the assertion that it has no
‘bias’ and that its statement of facts is purely ‘objective,’ a few
concrete examples of the opposite kind of treatment—the one
commonly employed—may not be out of place.
“We are told, for instance, that ‘the Jesuits had their share, direct
or indirect, in the embroiling of States, in concocting conspiracies
and in kindling wars. They were responsible by their theoretical
teachings in theological schools for not a few assassinations’ (340).
‘They powerfully aided the revolution which placed the Duke of
Braganza on the throne of Portugal, and their services were
rewarded with the practical control of ecclesiastical and almost civil
affairs in that kingdom for nearly one hundred years’ (344). ‘Their
war against the Jansenists did not cease till the very walls of Port
Royal were demolished in 1710, even to the very abbey church itself,
and the bodies of the dead taken with every mark of insult from
their graves and literally flung to the dogs to devour’ (345). ‘In
Japan the Jesuits died with their converts bravely as martyrs to the
Faith, yet it is impossible to acquit them of a large share of the
causes of that overthrow’ (345). ‘It was about the same time that
the grave scandal of the Chinese and Malabar rites began to attract
attention in Europe and to make thinking men ask seriously whether
the Jesuit missionaries in those parts taught anything which could
fairly be called Christianity at all’ (348). ‘The political schemings of
Parsons in England was an object lesson to the rest of Europe of a
restless ambition and a lust of domination which were to find many
imitators’ (348). ‘The General of the Order drove away six thousand
exiled Jesuit priests from the coast of Italy, and made them pass
several months of suffering on crowded vessels at sea to increase
public sympathy, but the actual result was blame for the cruelty with
which he had enhanced their misfortunes’ (346). ‘Clement XIV, who
suppressed them, is said to have died of poison, but Tanucci and two
others entirely acquit the Jesuits.’ ‘They are accountable in no small
degree in France, as in England, for alienating the minds of men
from the religion for which they professed to work’ (345).
“Very little of this can be characterized as ‘eulogistic,’ especially as
interwoven in the story are malignant insinuations, incomplete and
distorted statements, suppressions of truth, gross errors of fact, and
a continual injection of personal venom which makes the argument
not an ‘unbiased and objective presentment’ of the case, but the
plea of a prejudiced prosecuting and persecuting attorney
endeavoring by false testimony to convict before the bar of public
opinion an alleged culprit, whose destruction he is trying to
accomplish with an uncanny sort of delight.”
After having adduced a long list of instances which “reveal the
rancor and ignorance of many of the writers hired by the
Encyclopædia,” the article then points out “the fundamental
untruthfulness” on which the Britannica is built. In a letter written by
the Encyclopædia’s editor appears the following specious
explanation: “Extreme care was taken by the editors, and especially
by the editor responsible for the theological side of the work, that
every subject, either directly or indirectly concerned with religion,
should as far as possible be objective and not subjective in their
presentation. The majority of the articles on the various Churches
and their beliefs were written by members within the several
communions, and, if not so written, were submitted to those most
competent to judge, for criticism and, if need be, correction.”
Father Campbell in his answer to this letter says: “Without
animadverting on the peculiar use of the English language by the
learned English editor who tells us that ‘every subject’ should be
‘objective’ in their presentation, we do not hesitate to challenge
absolutely the assertion that ‘the majority of the articles on the
various Churches were written by members within the several
communions, and if not so written were submitted to those most
competent to judge, for criticism and, if need be, for correction.’
Such a pretence is simply amazing, and thoroughly perplexed, we
asked: What are we supposed to understand when we are informed
that ‘the majority of the articles on the various Churches and their
beliefs were written by members within the several communions’?
“Was the article on The Roman Catholic Church written by a
Catholic? Was the individual who accumulated and put into print all
those vile aspersions on the Popes, the saints, the sacraments, the
doctrines of the Church, a Catholic? Were the other articles on
Casuistry, Celibacy, St. Catherine of Siena, and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, written by a Catholic? The supposition is simply inconceivable,
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