Attack-resilient hierarchical data aggregation in sensor networks

Abstract

In a large sensor network, in-network data aggregation, i.e., combining partial results at intermediate nodes during message routing, significantly reduces the amount of communication and hence the energy consumed. Recently several researchers have proposed robust aggregation frameworks, which combine multi-path routing schemes with duplicate-insensitive algorithms, to accurately compute aggregates (e.g., Sum, Count, Average) in spite of message losses resulting from node and transmission failures. However, these aggregation frameworks have been designed without security in mind. Given the lack of hardware support for tamper-resistance and the unattended nature of sensor nodes, sensor networks are highly vulnerable to node compromises. We show that even if a few compromised nodes contribute false sub-aggregate values, this results in large errors in the aggregate computed at the root of the hierarchy. We present modifications to the aggregation algorithms that guard against such attacks, i.e., we present algorithms for resilient hierarchical data aggregation despite the presence of compromised nodes in the aggregation hierarchy. We evaluate the performance and costs of our approach via both analysis and simulation. Our results show that our approach is scalable and efficient.