Security in mobile wireless sensor networks: Attacks and defenses

In recent years wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are fast emerging as an important domain for both commercial and personal use. The advancement in robotics has enabled exploring another domain in WSNs i.e., mobile WSNs (MWSNs). A MWSN consists of a collection of nodes that can move on their own and interact with the physical environment. Several applications demand the need for mobility in nodes which, in general are static. Due to the nature of deployment of the nodes coupled with their resource constraints, providing security to such MWSNs have gained a prime importance. Also, they can be deployed in physically inaccessible environment as well as critical areas, and therefore the need to make them secure is very important. Mobility of nodes in MWSNs makes them more vulnerable to attacks by adversaries. Many works have been conducted in recent past where various promising solutions have been provided for detecting the attack, diagnosing the adversary nodes, and nullifying their capabilities for further damage in MWSNs. To start with, this chapter presents the need for MWSNs followed by security objectives, key issues and inherent challenges faced by these networks. Existing works dealing with basic security features and the different attacks faced by MWSNs are discussed. Finally, we give an insight into the possible directions for future work in securing MWSNs.