International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4 Issue6- June 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 2265

Secure Improved Multi Group-LEACH
-A protocol of Wireless Sensor Network
Mr. Santosh.Irappa.Shirol
#1
, Mr. Ashok Kumar. N
#2
, Mr. Kalmesh.M.Waderhatti
#3
1,2. Student of M.Tech in Industrial Electronics, 3. Asst. Prof E&C Dept. Vishwanathrao Deshpande Rural Institute of Engineering
and Technology, Haliyal affiliated to VTU, Belgaum, Karnataka, INDIA

Abstract- Wireless sensor networks are ad hoc networks mainly
consist of small sensor nodes with limited energy resources, and are
rapidly emerging as a technology for large-scale, low cost,
automated sensing and monitoring of different environments of
interest. Cluster-based communication has been proposed for these
networks for various reasons such as scalability and energy
efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the problem of adding
security to cluster based communication protocols for
homogeneous wireless sensor networks consisting of sensor nodes
with severely limited resources, and propose a security solution for
Improved MG-LEACH, a protocol where clusters are formed
dynamically and periodically. Our solution uses building blocks
from SPINS, a suite of highly optimized security building blocks
that rely solely on symmetric-key methods; is lightweight and
preserves the core of the original Improved MG-LEACH.

Keywords- Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Cluster Head (CH),
Base Station (BS), Network life time, Security.

I. INTRODUCTION

WSNs have gained importance in a wide spectrum of civil
and military applications. Advances in MEMS (micro-
electromechanical systems) technology, combined with low-
power, low-cost digital signal processors (DSPs) and radio
frequency (RF) circuits have resulted in the feasibility of
inexpensive and wireless sensor networks. A distributed, self-
configuring network of adaptive sensors has significant benefits.
They can be used to remotely monitor inhospitable and toxic
environments in different application areas, ranging from
battlefield reconnaissance to environmental protection.

Cluster-based communication protocols (such as LEACH
[1], MGLEACH [2] etc.) have been proposed for ad hoc
networks in general and sensor networks in particular for
various reasons including scalability and energy efficiency. In
cluster-based networks, nodes are organized into clusters, with


cluster heads (CHs) relaying messages from ordinary nodes in
the cluster to the BSs.

Like any wireless ad hoc network, WSNs are vulnerable to
attacks [3,4]. Besides the well-known vulnerabilities due to
wireless communication and ad hocness, WSNs face additional
problems, including
1. Sensor nodes being small, cheap devices that are
unlikely to be made tamper-resistant or tamper-proof.
2. Their being left unattended once deployed in
unprotected or even hostile areas (which makes them
easily accessible to malicious parties).

It is therefore crucial to add security to WSNs, especially those
embedded in mission-critical applications.

In this paper, we investigate the problem of adding
security to cluster-based communication protocols for
homogeneous WSNs (those in which all nodes in the network,
except the BSs, have comparable capabilities). We use
Improved MG-LEACH (Multi Group- Low Energy Adaptive
Clustering Hierarchy) [5] as our example of protocol.


II. IMPROVED MG-LEACH AND ITS VULNERABILITIES

Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy is one of the
first hierarchical routing protocols for sensor network and
Improved MG-LEACH is addition to LEACH. The conventional
clustering technique used in wireless sensor networks does not
improve network lifetime since this scheme assumes the cluster
heads to be fixed, and thus requires them to be high-energy
nodes. Improved MG-LEACH presented in [5], provides a
hierarchical protocol that makes the use of local coordination
among the nodes to enable scalability and robustness for sensor
networks. So, Improved MG-LEACH is an energy conserving
protocol where all the nodes in the network are uniform and
energy constrained. An end user can access the remotely
monitored operation, where large numbers of nodes are
involved. The nodes organize themselves into local clusters,
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4 Issue6- June 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 2266

with one node acting as the randomly selected local cluster
head. If the allocated cluster heads are always fixed, then they
would die quickly, ending the useful lifetime of all nodes
belonging to those clusters. Improved MG-LEACH includes
random alternation of the high-energy cluster head nodes to
enable the sensors to uniformly sustain the power. Sensors
nominate themselves to be local cluster heads at any given time
with some probability and by using the following parameters:

- Energy remaining in the nodes,
- Centrality of the node and
- Proximity to Base Station

The selected cluster head nodes advertize their status to the
other sensors in the network. Each sensor node resolves which
cluster to follow by choosing the cluster head that requires the
minimum communication energy. This allows the transceiver of
each unassigned node to be turned off at all times except during
its transmit time, thus minimizing the energy dissipated in each
sensor. Improved MG-LEACH divides the operation of the
entire network into many rounds. Further, each round has set
building phase, set-up phase and steady state (data transmission)
phase. During the set building phase area of the deployed sensor
nodes is divided in the many sub-groups depending on node
location. During set-up phase some sensor nodes project
themselves as potential cluster heads and announce their cluster
head position to the rest of the nodes in the network, and then
other nodes organize themselves into local clusters by choosing
the most appropriate cluster head (normally the closest cluster
head). During the steady-state phase the cluster heads receive
sensed data from cluster members, and then transfer the
aggregated data to the BS by using multi-hop communication
path.

Security vulnerabilities: Like most of the protocols for WSNs,
Improved MG-LEACH is vulnerable to a number of security
attacks including jamming, spoofing, replay. But because it is a
cluster-based protocol, relying on their CHs for routing, attacks
involving CHs are the most damaging. If an intruder manages to
become a CH, it can stage attacks such as sinkhole and selective
forwarding, thus disrupting the network. The intruder may also
leave the routing alone, and try to inject bogus sensor data into
the network, one way or another. A third type of attack is
passive eavesdropping.

III. ADDING SECURITY TO IMPROVED MULTI GROUP-
LEACH

Wireless Sensor Networks may get attacks both from
outsiders and insiders. In cryptographically protected networks,
outsiders do not have credentials (e.g., keys or certificates) to
show that they are members of the network, whereas insiders do.
Insiders may not always be trustworthy, as they may have been
compromised, or have stolen their credentials from some
legitimate node in the network. The solution we propose here is
meant to protect the network from attacks by outsiders only.
Another rather ordinary trust assumption we make is that BSs
are trusted.

Two of the most critical security properties we are adding
to LEACH, such as: Data Authentication (it should be possible
for a recipient of a message to authenticate its originator), and
Data Freshness (it should be possible for a recipient of a
message to be sure that the message is not a replay of an old
message). We aim on devising a solution to prevent an intruder
from becoming a CH or injecting bogus sensor data into the
network by pretending to be one of its members. The proposed
technique uses building blocks from SPINS [6], a suite of
lightweight security primitives for resource-constrained WSNs.

a) SPINS Overview:
The SPINS (Security Protocols for Sensor Networks)
[6] consists of two symmetric-key security building blocks
optimized for highly constrained sensor networks, such as:
SNEP and TESLA. SNEP provides Confidentiality,
Authentication, And Freshness between nodes and the BS,
and TESLA provides Authenticated Broadcast. TESLA
implements the asymmetry required for authenticated
broadcast using one-way key chains constructed with
cryptographically secure hash functions, and delayed key
disclosure. TESLA requires loose time synchronization.

b) Overview of Our Solution:
Secure Improved Multi Group- LEACH needs an
authenticated broadcast mechanism to allow non-CHs to
authenticate the broadcaster as being a particular,
authorized, node of the network. Senor nodes do not have,
the resource level required to run TESLA (it requires the
sender to store a long chain of symmetric keys). We
propose a solution that divides this authenticated broadcast
into two smaller steps, leveraging on the BS, which is
trusted and has more resources. In a nutshell, assuming that
each sensor node shares a secret symmetric key with the
BS, each CH can send a slightly modified adv message,
including the id of the CH in plaintext (which will be used
by the ordinary nodes as usual) and a message
authentication code (MAC1) generated using the key the
CH shares with the BS (the MAC will be used by the BS for
the purpose of authentication). Once all these (modified)
adv messages have been sent by the CHs, the BS will
compile the list of legitimate CHs, and send this list to the
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4 Issue6- June 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 2267

network using the TESLA broadcast authentication
scheme. Ordinary nodes now know which of the (modified)
advs they received are from legitimate nodes, and can
proceed with the rest of the original protocol, choosing the
CH from the list broadcast by the BS.

c) Protocol Details

Pre-deployment: Every single node among the set of
deployed nodes (say X) is preloaded with two keys: X
x
, a
master symmetric key that X shares with the BS; and k
n
, a
group key that is shared by all members of the deployed
network. For freshness purposes, each node X also shares a
counter C
x
with the sink.

FromX
x
, the key holders deriveK
x
, for MAC
computation and verification. k
n
is the last key of a
sequence S generated by applying successively a one-way
hash function f to an initial key k
0
(S = k
0,
, k
1
,
k
2
,,k
n
1,k
n
, where f(k

) = k
+1
). The BS keeps S
secret, but shares the last element k
n
with the rest of the
network.

Set-building Phase: The deployed nodes in a group G are
divided in to several Sub Groups (G1.Gk) depending
upon their locations [2,5]. Number of groups are mainly
depends upon node density. These groups are created by the
BS at the time of deployment and after every x rounds.
During the random deployments of nodes, each node is
equipped with GPS, which sends location information to BS
directly. BS will use the provided information for every Set
building phase.

Setup Phase Advertisement: Once a node gets elected as
CH, it broadcasts a Sec_Adv message, which is a
concatenation of its own id with a MAC value produced
using K
x
. Ordinary nodes collect all these broadcasts, and
record the signal strength of each. The BS receives each of
these broadcasts, and verifies their authenticity.

Once all the Sec_Adv messages processed by the BS, it
compiles the list V of authenticated CHs, identifies the last
key k
]
in S that has not been disclosed (note that all keyk

,
such that i >j, have been disclosed, whereas all key k

, such
that i j, have not), and broadcasts V using TESLA
andk
]
. k
]
is disclosed after a certain time period, after all
nodes in the network have received the previous message.

Cluster Joining: Once the broadcast and the corresponding
key have been received, all ordinary nodes in the network
can authenticate the broadcast from the BS and learn the list
of legitimate CHs for the current round. They then choose a
CH from this list using the original algorithm (based on
signal strengths), and send the Join_Req message to the CH
they choose.

Confirmation: After the CHs receive all the Join_Reqs,
they broadcast the Time Slot schedule to their cluster
members. Depending on the security level required, we can
take advantage of the same procedure used to authenticate
Sec_Adv messages here.

Steady-state Phase: During this phase, sensor nodes send
measurements to their CHs. To authenticate the origin of
these measurements, they also enclose a MAC value
produced, using the key they share with the BS. The CHs
aggregate the measurements, and transmit the aggregate
data, authenticated, to the BS; the MACs from the cluster
members are simply forwarded in mac array messages, as
they are unable to verify them.

MAC value generated by the CH, and ones from the
ordinary nodes are verified by the BS. Unless all
verifications are successful, the BS will discard the
corresponding aggregate data, and the originators of failed
MACs will be seen as Intruders. In case there are intruders
among the ordinary nodes, the BS will report their identities
to their CHs, which will then discard messages from these
nodes for the remaining of the round.

The MAC values from the ordinary nodes do not take
the measurements into account, as the BS would not be able
to verify them. Thus, the MAC values, in this case, only
authenticate the fact that the key holder has sent one more
message (as the counter value has been incremented). The
BS needs to trust that the CHs indeed used the reports from
their members to generate the aggregate data.

The communication from CHs to BS (including the
MACs from the non-CHs) is done by selecting
authenticated multiple hops. Thus, in this work, we use
MAC just for authentication purposes and to handle non
malicious corruptions of messages from the environment.


IV. SECURITY ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE
EVALUATION
a) Security Analysis:
In designing Secure Improved Multi Group- LEACH,
our goal was to implement access control, and prevent
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4 Issue6- June 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 2268

intruders from participating in the network. We discuss
below how well we achieve it.

The solution allows authentication of Sec_Adv
messages, and prevents intruders from becoming CHs.
Thus, unless there are insider attacks, the network is
protected against selective forwarding, sinkhole, and
HELLO flood attacks [3]. Here we leave the confirmation
message unauthenticated; and an intruder would be able to
broadcast bogus time slot schedules, possibly causing DoS
(Denial of Service) problems in the communication during
the steady-state phase.

Intruders may also try to join a cluster, with following
goals in mind:

1. To send bogus sensor data to the CH, and
introduce noise to the set of all sensor
measurements.

2. To have the CH forward bogus messages to the
BS, and deplete its energy reserve.

3. To crowd the time slot schedule of a cluster,
causing a DoS attack, or simply lowering the
throughput of a CH.

The proposed solution does not prevent intruders from
joining the clusters, but does prevent them from achieving
the first goal. Their rogue measurements will be discarded
by the system, as they are unable to generate MACs that
can be successfully verified by the BS, during the steady-
state phase. This verification also guarantees freshness, as
the counter value should have been incremented from last
time. We also prevent the intruders from achieving the
second goal: their CHs will fail to forward their messages,
once they are flagged and reported by the BS (because of
MACs that cannot be verified). The proposed scheme
cannot prevent the intruders from achieving the third goal,
but we argue that it can be accomplished by other much
easier means, such as jamming the communications
channels, for example.

b) Performance Evaluation:

The proposed methodology is extremely simple: each
node, aside from the BS, is preloaded with only two keys,
one for the BS to authenticate the legitimate members of the
network, and the other for authenticated broadcasts from the
BS.

In terms of communication and processing overhead,
the proposed protocol incurs to the BS and negligible
overhead: one authenticated broadcast and one key
disclosure. For the CHs, sending a Sec_Adv message
instead of adv incurs one MAC computation and energy for
transmitting the MAC bits. For the non-CHs, the additional
work has to do with receiving and processing the BSs
authenticated broadcast, the computation overhead
consisting of one MAC and one application of f. All these
overheads are as minimum as possible.

For the steady-state phase, Secure Improved Multi
Group- LEACH has all nodes sending authenticated
messages, which requires one MAC computation and
additional MAC bits in the message. Additionally, the CHs
also forward MACs from their cluster members to the BS.
Taking the current values into account, we believe that this
overhead is tolerable.


V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Providing security to the WSNs used in military
applications is one of the major challenges, in order to
achieve it, we have proposed Secure Improved Multi
Group- LEACH, the first modified version of Improved
Multi Group- LEACH with cryptographic protection
against outsider attacks. It prevents intruders or outsiders
from becoming a CH or to become a member node the
network & inject bogus sensor data into the network.

Secure Improved Multi Group- LEACH is quite
efficient, and preserves the structure of the original
Improved Multi Group- LEACH, including its ability to
carry out data fusion.

The simplicity of our solution relies on assumption that
every node can reach a BS by transmitting with sufficiently
high power. Thus, we expect our solution to be applicable
to any cluster-based communication protocol where this
assumption holds. In cases where it does not hold,
alternative schemes are needed. This is topic for future
work.

REFERENCES:
1. Heinzelman, W.R., Chandrakasan, A., Balakrishnan, H.: Energy-
efficient communication protocol for wireless microsensor networks.
In: IEEE Hawaii Int. Conf. on SystemSciences. (2000) 47.
2. MG-LEACH: Multi Group Based LEACH an Energy Efficient
Routing Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Network Muhammad
Haneef, Zhou Wenxun, Zhongliang Deng Beijing university of Posts
and telecommunications, Xi Tu Cheng Road #10, Haidian District
Beijing PC 100876, P.R. China.
3. Karlof, C., Wagner, D.: Secure routing in wireless sensor networks:
Attacks and countermeasures. In: Elseviers AdHoc Networks
J ournal, Special Issue on Sensor Network Applications and
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4 Issue6- June 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 2269

Protocols. Volume 1. (2003) 293315 Also appeared in First IEEE
International Workshop on Sensor Network Protocols and
Applications.
4. Wood, A.D., Stankovic, J .A.: Denial of servicein sensor networks.
IEEE Computer 35 (2002) 5462.
5. Santosh.Irappa.Shirol, Kalmesh.M.Waderhatti Improvement on Multi
Group-LEACH Protocol of Wireless Sensor Network. In:
International J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer
Engineering & Technology (IJ ARCET) Volume 2, Issue 4, April
2013 1590- 1595.
6. Perrig, A., Szewczyk, R., Wen, V., Culler, D., Tygar, J .D.: SPINS:
Security protocols for sensor networks. Wireless Networks 8 (2002)
521534 Also appeared in Mobile Computing and Networking.
7. Eschenauer, L., Gligor, V.D.: A key management scheme for
distributed sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the 9th ACM
conference on Computer and communications security, ACM Press
(2002) 4147.
8. Zhu, S., Setia, S., J ajodia, S.: Leap: efficient security mechanisms for
large-scale distributed sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the 10th
ACM conference on Computer and communication security, ACM
Press (2003) 6272.
9. Przydatek, B., Song, D., Perrig, A.: SIA: Secure information
aggregationinsensor networks. In: ACM SenSys 2003. (2003) 175
192.
10. Adrian Carlos Ferreira, Marcos Aurelio Vilaca, Leonardo B.
Oliveira1, Eduardo Habib,Hao Chi Wong1, Antonio A.Loureiro: On
theSecurity of Cluster-based Communication Protocols for Wireless
Sensor Networks