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TITLE: Information Assurance in Wireless Sensor Networks

ABSTRACT

Networking unattended wireless sensors is expected to have significant 
impact on the efficiency of a large array of military and non-military applications. 
The main goal of wireless sensor networks is to obtain globally meaningful 
information from strictly local data gleaned by individual sensor nodes. 
The network is deployed such that the sensors are embedded, possibly 
at random, in a target environment. Utilizing the basic capabilities of sensor
nodes in the network, different types of monitoring and control applications 
that address the target environment can be developed. However, a wireless 
sensor network is only as good as the information it produces. In this respect, 
the most important concern is information assurance. Indeed, in most application 
domains, sensor networks will constitute a mission critical component requiring 
commensurate protection. detection, and reaction capabilities to assure information
and the systems that process, store, and communicate this information. Several 
factors make wireless sensor networks highly vulnerable to attacks. These factors 
include anonymity of individual sensor nodes, resource limitations, lack infrastructure
support, very large scale deployment possibly in hostile environments, and wireless links.

This talk is concerned with information assurance related architectural and 
communication issues in wireless sensor networks. A number of novel solutions 
to information assurance problems will be discussed including the design of sensors
and sensor networks to prevent disclosure and modification of data stored and 
messages exchanged.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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Prof Olariu's Bio

Professor Stephan Olariu is a professor of Computer Science and the Director
of the Sensor Networks Research Group at Old Dominion University, Norfolk,
Virginia. He is a world-renowned technologist in the areas of parallel and
distributed systems, parallel and distributed architectures and networks. He
was invited and visited more than 100 universities and research institutes
around the world lecturing on topics ranging from wireless networks and
mobile computing, to biology-inspired algorithms and applications, to telemedicine,
to wireless location systems, and demining. Professor Olariu earned his
Ph.D. (Computer Science) at McGill University, Montreal. He has coauthored two
books. He has also published 150+ journal articles and 100+ conference
articles.  Professor Olariu is an Associate Editor of Networks, International
Journal of Foundations of Computer Science, and serves on the editorial
board of Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing and served (until January
2003) as Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed
Systems and VLSI Design.