ZigBee Security for Residential Sensor Networks

ZigBee standard is a low-complexity and energy-efficient wireless protocol for sensor network applications. It has been promoted by ZigBee alliance and widely developed by many companies for a variety of applications. In this paper, we introduce the residential mode of security mechanism in ZigBee networks for smart home networking applications, and we then point out the security problems when using this mode. Specifically, we show that the ZigBee network is subject to replay attacks, and thus packets information could be revealed to attackers. Moreover, the encryption keys are also possible to be revealed during the key update operation within ZigBee networks. To overcome the latter issues, in this paper, we provide some recommendations to improve the security of ZigBee sensor networks for residential applications. It is believed that the suggestions presented in this paper would benefit application engineers in designing the sensor networking security.