Bootstrapping Key Pre-Distribution: Secure, Scalable and User-Friendly Initialization of Sensor Nodes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel, cost-effective, and scalable visual out-of-band channel method for secure sensor node initialization, enhancing usability and eliminating the need for pre-loaded secrets.

Contribution

The paper presents a new secure initialization technique using visual channels, improving scalability, efficiency, and user-friendliness over existing pre-distribution schemes.

Findings

Method is efficient and scalable for large sensor networks.

User study shows high usability for naive users.

Requires minimal additional cost for implementation.

Abstract

To establish secure (point-to-point and/or broadcast) communication channels among the nodes of a wireless sensor network is a fundamental task. To this end, a plethora of (socalled) key pre-distribution schemes have been proposed in the past. All these schemes, however, rely on shared secret(s), which are assumed to be somehow pre-loaded onto the sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel method for secure initialization of sensor nodes based on a visual out-of-band channel. Using the proposed method, the administrator of a sensor network can distribute keys onto the sensor nodes, necessary to bootstrap key pre-distribution. Our secure initialization method requires only a little extra cost, is efficient and scalable with respect to the number of sensor nodes. Moreover, based on a usability study that we conducted, the method turns out to be quite user-friendly and easy to use by naive human users.