Attacks and Challenges in Wireless Sensor Networks

The advances and developments in Wireless Communication technology have made the deployment of small, low cost wireless sensor nodes connected through wireless medium, known as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), technically and economically feasible. These WSNs have got numerous applications in various fields like military, environmental monitoring, health, industry etc. The nature of the data gathered by WSNs is sensitive so it is essential to prevent this data from malicious attacks and threats. Security has already become a major concern for WSNs because of the wide application of WSNs in security-critical areas. In this paper network security issues in WSNs are discussed. It provides a review of attacks performed typically on sensor networks and an in-depth survey of the existing security mechanisms. It also discourses certain security challenges relevant to the WSNs for future directions.