INNOVATIVE ENERGY-EFFICIENT PROXY REENCRYPTION FOR SECURE DATA EXCHANGE IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract

In the realm of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), preserving data integrity, privacy, and security against cyberthreats is paramount. Proxy reencryption (PRE) plays a pivotal role in ensuring secure intra-network communication. However, existing PRE solutions encounter persistent challenges, including processing delays due to the transfer of substantial data to the proxy for reencryption and the computational intensity of asymmetric cryptography. This study introduces an innovative PRE scheme that is meticulously customized for WSNs to enhance the secure communication between nodes within the network and external data server. The proposed PRE scheme optimizes efficiency by integrating lightweight symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic techniques, thereby minimizing computational costs during PRE operations and conserving energy for resourceconstrained nodes. In addition, the scheme incorporates sophisticated key management and digital certificates to ensure secure key generation and distribution, which in turn, facilitates seamless authentication and scalable data sharing among the entities in WSN. This scheme maintains sensor-node data encryption and delegates secure reencryption tasks exclusively to cluster heads, thereby reinforcing data privacy and integrity. Comprehensive evaluations of  security, performance, and energy consumption validated the robustness of the scheme. The results confirm that the proposed PRE scheme significantly enhances the security, efficiency, and overall network lifetime of WSNs.