Today's wireless sensor networks are generally small (fewer than 100 nodes) so symmetric cryptography with centralized control of security is sufficient. However, for sensor networks to reach their potential -- to build large, self-healing networks that allow nodes to move as necessary -- developers of microcontrollers and sensor networking stacks must move to public-key cryptography, which enables devices to interact and communicate securely. ECC provides more security per bit than other public-key cryptography schemes making it the only option that can meet the footprint and power limitations of a sensor network's constrained devices.
"Security is becoming increasingly critical for wireless sensor network applications, but it needs to operate within the resource and power constraints of a sensor environment," said Joerg Bertholdt, vice president of marketing, Crossbow Technology. "We chose to partner with Certicom because of their experience in providing security solutions for resource-constrained devices and their ECC expertise. With products from Crossbow and Certicom, OEMs will have a hardware and software solution that allows them to bring secure, reliable, wireless sensors to market quickly and cost effectively."
