Secure timing synchronization for heterogeneous sensor network using pairing over elliptic curve

Secure time synchronization is one of the key concerns for some sophisticated sensor network applications. Most existing time synchronization protocols are affected by almost all attacks. In this paper, we consider heterogeneous sensor networks (HSNs) as a model for our proposed novel time synchronization protocol based on pairing and identity-based cryptography (IBC). This is the first approach for time synchronization protocol using pairing-based cryptography (PBC) in HSNs. The proposed protocol reduces the communication overhead of the nodes as well as prevents from all the major security attacks. Security analysis shows, it robust against reply attacks, masquerade attacks, delay attacks, and message manipulation attacks. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.