Secure Multidimensional Queries in Tiered Sensor Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces secure schemes for multidimensional queries in tiered sensor networks, focusing on reducing communication overhead and addressing security threats from node compromises.

Contribution

It proposes novel secure query schemes for range, top-k, and skyline queries, including the first solutions for securing top-k and skyline queries in tiered sensor networks.

Findings

SRQ achieves lowest communication overhead among prior works.

First secure top-k query scheme in tiered sensor networks.

First secure skyline query scheme in tiered sensor networks.

Abstract

In this paper, aiming at securing range query, top-k query, and skyline query in tiered sensor networks, we propose the Secure Range Query (SRQ), Secure Top-$k$ Query (STQ), and Secure Skyline Query (SSQ) schemes, respectively. In particular, SRQ, by using our proposed \emph{prime aggregation} technique, has the lowest communication overhead among prior works, while STQ and SSQ, to our knowledge, are the first proposals in tiered sensor networks for securing top-$k$ and skyline queries, respectively. Moreover, the relatively unexplored issue of the security impact of sensor node compromises on multidimensional queries is studied; two attacks incurred from the sensor node compromises, \emph{collusion attack} and \emph{false-incrimination attack}, are investigated in this paper. After developing a novel technique called \emph{subtree sampling}, we also explore methods of efficiently mitigating the threat of sensor node compromises. Performance analyses regarding the probability for detecting incomplete query-results and communication cost of the proposed schemes are also studied.