{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T17:04:42Z","timestamp":1792688682308,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,23]],"date-time":"2022-02-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1645574400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Security is one of the major issues in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), as poor security disrupts the entire network and can have a significant effect on data transmission. WSNs need safe data transmission at a high rate while maintaining data integrity. By modifying the Z-MAC protocol and merging it with IHOP and elliptic-curve encryption techniques, the present research produced a novel protocol that enables safe data transfer. Additionally, the paper examined the IHOP technique for secure data transfer based on the Z-MAC protocol, which offers a simple and efficient key generation mechanism based on a hierarchical key management architecture. Additionally, the Z-MAC protocol offered low contention, high throughput, reduced latency, low power consumption, and increased efficiency. One of the most major applications of the Secure Z-MAC protocol may be the Vehicle Area Network, which would help in increasing highway automobile traffic while simultaneously enhancing individual safety and minimizing accidents.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info13030105","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,23]],"date-time":"2022-02-23T22:54:02Z","timestamp":1645656842000},"page":"105","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Secure Z-MAC Protocol as a Proposed Solution for Improving Security in WSNs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3675-8924","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mona Nasser","family":"Almansoori","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematical, Faculty of Science, Computer Science Unit, Suez Canal University, Suez, Ismailia 43711, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmad Ahmad","family":"Elshamy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematical, Faculty of Science, Computer Science Unit, Suez Canal University, Suez, Ismailia 43711, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmad Abdel Muttalib","family":"Mustafa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Information System and Computer Science Unit, British University, Cairo 11837, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.2008.441","article-title":"Wireless sensor networks","volume":"41","author":"Stankovic","year":"2008","journal-title":"Computer"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Severino, R., Batsa, M., Alves, M., and Koubaa, A. (2010, January 1\u20133). A Traffic Differentiation Add-On to the IEEE 802.15. 4 Protocol: Implementation and experimental validation over a real-time operating system. Proceedings of the 2010 13th Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design: Architectures, Methods and Tools, Lile, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/DSD.2010.95"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"511","article-title":"Z-MAC: A hybrid MAC for wireless sensor networks","volume":"16","author":"Warrier","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE\/ACM Trans. Netw."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2034","DOI":"10.1109\/5.650183","article-title":"Security issues in networks with Internet access","volume":"85","author":"Landwehr","year":"1997","journal-title":"Proc. IEEE"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kosachenko, T., Dudkin, D., Konev, A., and Sharamok, A. (2020). Threat Model for Trusted Sensory Information Collection and Processing Platform. International Conference on Futuristic Trends in Networks and Computing Technologies, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-16-1483-5_27"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1186\/s13673-019-0198-1","article-title":"Convolutional technique for enhancing security in wireless sensor networks against malicious nodes","volume":"9","author":"Alghamdi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Hum.-Cent. Comput. Inf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"265","article-title":"Different types of attacks on integrated manet-internet communication","volume":"4","author":"Rai","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Sci. Secur."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"205","DOI":"10.1007\/s10207-014-0256-7","article-title":"Detection and analysis of eavesdropping in anonymous communication networks","volume":"14","author":"Chakravarty","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. J. Inf. Secur."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bello, A.D., and Lamba, O.S. (2020). How to Detect and Mitigate Sinkhole Attack in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Int. J. Eng. Res. Technol., 9.","DOI":"10.17577\/IJERTV9IS050099"},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"813","article-title":"Denial of service (DOS) attack and its possible solutions in VANET","volume":"4","author":"Hasbullah","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Electr. Comupt. Eng."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Matin, M.A., and Islam, M.M. (2012). Overview of wireless sensor network. Wireless Sensor Networks-Technology and Protocols, Intech Open.","DOI":"10.5772\/49376"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wazid, M., Katal, A., Sachan, R.S., Goudar, R.H., and Singh, D.P. (2013, January 3\u20135). Detection and prevention mechanism for blackhole attack in wireless sensor network. Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing, Melmaruvathur, India.","DOI":"10.1109\/iccsp.2013.6577120"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, S.Y., Hsu, Y.J., and Hsiao, S.J. (2018, January 6\u20138). Integrating blockchain technology for data collection and analysis in wireless sensor networks with an innovative implementation. Proceedings of the 2018 International Symposium on Computer, Consumer and Control (IS3C), Taichung, Taiwan.","DOI":"10.1109\/IS3C.2018.00045"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72326","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2021.3079708","article-title":"Employing Blockchain Technology to Strengthen Security of Wireless Sensor Networks","volume":"9","author":"Hsiao","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Louw, J., Niezen, G., Ramotsoela, T.D., and Abu-Mahfouz, A.M. (2016, January 19\u201321). A key distribution scheme using elliptic curve cryptography in wireless sensor networks. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE 14th International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), Poitiers, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/INDIN.2016.7819342"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pritchard, S.W., Hancke, G.P., and Abu-Mahfouz, A.M. (2018, January 13\u201315). Cryptography methods for software-defined wireless sensor networks. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE), Cairns, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ISIE.2018.8433630"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cheng, X., Luo, Y., and Gui, Q. (2018, January 12\u201314). Research on trust management model of wireless sensor networks. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 3rd Advanced Information Technology, Electronic and Automation Control Conference (IAEAC), Chongqing, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/IAEAC.2018.8577648"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sagar, S., Mahmood, A., Sheng, Q.Z., and Zhang, W.E. (2020, January 7\u201311). Trust computational heuristic for social Internet of Things: A machine learning-based approach. Proceedings of the ICC 2020\u20132020 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Online.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICC40277.2020.9148767"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1109\/MWC.2008.4599222","article-title":"Security in wireless sensor networks","volume":"15","author":"Du","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Teymourzadeh, M., Vahed, R., Alibeygi, S., and Dastanpour, N. (2020). Security in wireless sensor networks: Issues and challenges. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Mittal, H. (2016). A survey: Attacks on wireless networks. J. Netw. Commun. Emerg. Technol., 3\u20137."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eij.2016.11.001","article-title":"Survey of main challenges (security and privacy) in wireless body area networks for healthcare applications","volume":"18","author":"Shojafar","year":"2017","journal-title":"Egypt. Inform. J."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Garcia-Font, V., Garrigues, C., and Rif\u00e0-Pous, H. (2017). Attack classification schema for smart city WSNs. Sensors, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/s17040771"},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"7039","article-title":"Military applications using wireless sensor networks: A survey","volume":"6","author":"Ahmad","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Eng. Sci."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1177\/1748301817727123","article-title":"A fair electronic payment system for digital content using elliptic curve cryptography","volume":"12","author":"Kang","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Algorithm. Comput. Technol."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Hankerson, D., Menezes, A.J., and Vanstone, S. (2006). Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Springer Science & Business Media."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Batina, L., Mentens, N., Sakiyama, K., Preneel, B., and Verbauwhede, I. (2006). Low-cost elliptic curve cryptography for wireless sensor networks. European Workshop on Security in Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/11964254_3"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14-es","DOI":"10.1145\/1267060.1267062","article-title":"Interleaved hop-by-hop authentication against false data injection attacks in sensor networks","volume":"3","author":"Zhu","year":"2007","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Sens. Netw."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1384","DOI":"10.1109\/TMC.2009.59","article-title":"DRAND: Distributed randomised TDMA scheduling for wireless ad hoc networks","volume":"8","author":"Rhee","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"485","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2013.09.066","article-title":"Z-MAC: Performance evaluation and enhancements","volume":"21","author":"Arshad","year":"2013","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lu, J., Yao, L., He, X., Huang, C., Wang, D., and Meng, B. (2018). A security analysis method for security protocol implementations based on message construction. Appl. Sci., 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/app8122543"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1186\/s13638-018-1337-5","article-title":"Security to wireless sensor networks against malicious attacks using Hamming residue method","volume":"2019","author":"Alotaibi","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Wirel. Commun. Netw"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Porambage, P., Schmitt, C., Kumar, P., Gurtov, A., and Ylianttila, M. (2014). PAuthKey: A Pervasive Authentication Protocol and Key Establishment Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks in Distributed IoT Applications. Int. J. Distrib. Sens. Netw., 10.","DOI":"10.1155\/2014\/357430"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4393721","DOI":"10.1155\/2016\/4393721","article-title":"Security Analysis and Improvements of Session Key Establishment for Clustered Sensor Networks","volume":"2016","author":"Kim","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Sens."}],"container-title":["Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/13\/3\/105\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T22:26:29Z","timestamp":1760135189000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/13\/3\/105"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,23]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3]]}},"alternative-id":["info13030105"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/info13030105","relation":{},"ISSN":["2078-2489"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2078-2489","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,23]]}}}