Vulnerability Analysis of Power-Aware Schemes in Sensor Networks: LEACH and PEGASIS

Sensor networks are special types of ad-hoc wireless networks. They are generally used to collect some field data from a given region. The nodes have limited computing capabilities, reduced size and significant power constraints. Therefore extending the lifetime of these nodes is of primary importance. LEACH and PEGASIS are two well-known power-aware routing schemes for sensor networks. These protocols are susceptible to various forms of denial of service attacks due to vulnerabilities highlighted in the paper. The vulnerabilities in the protocols exist at various layers of the protocol stack. The paper presents an analysis of these vulnerabilities and proposes mitigation strategies to alleviate the consequences of such attacks. Additionally the complexity of implementing such countermeasures is discussed.