Secure localisation of wireless devices with application to sensor networks using steganography

The data collected from the sensor network is meaningful to most of the wireless sensor network applications if and only if it is coupled with the exact positioning of the node. Mere localisation solves the problem of locating an unknown node, however applications like battlefield surveillance or enemy tracking, rescue-operations as well as monitoring of military facilities demand security and reliability of the location information. Therefore secure localisation of non-reference nodes facilitates the localisation system to be robust and secure in adversarial circumstances. The work targets secure localisation of the node position using least significant bit (LSB) insertion technique of steganography. In order for a node to be aware of its position, it sends a cover-image along with the node-id to the Cluster head (CH). The CH which already knows the node position performs LSB embedding on the cover image to generate a stego-image. The stego-image and the cover-image are then compared to get secure position information. The comparison will yield accurate position information only if the cover image is the same. For an adversarial circumstance (different cover image), the security mechanism is robust, and the information will be conveyed to the intended recipient only. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.