Node Compromise Modeling and its Applications in Sensor Networks

Node compromise is the major and unique security issues in sensor networks. There are many security approaches that can be used to defend against node compromises, yet few researches were focused on their distribution models and defending against them. Knowing the distribution models of node compromise can help us defend against them efficiently and effectively. In this paper, we use probability theory to develop basic uniform model, basic gradient model, intelligent uniform model and intelligent gradient model of node compromise distribution based on the observations of different application environments. These models allow system to estimate the probability of node compromise. To explain how important of these models and how to apply them in security design, we introduced some applications that can be improved using our models such as detecting node compromise, key management and secure routing.