Security and Privacy Protection in Visual Sensor Networks

Thomas Winkler, Bernhard Rinner
2014 ACM Computing Surveys  
and Lakeside Labs Visual sensor networks (VSNs) are receiving a lot of attention in research, and at the same time, commercial applications are starting to emerge. VSN devices come with image sensors, adequate processing power, and memory. They use wireless communication interfaces to collaborate and jointly solve tasks such as tracking persons within the network. VSNs are expected to replace not only many traditional, closed-circuit surveillance systems but also to enable emerging applications
more » ... in scenarios such as elderly care, home monitoring, or entertainment. In all of these applications, VSNs monitor a potentially large group of people and record sensitive image data that might contain identities of persons, their behavior, interaction patterns, or personal preferences. These intimate details can be easily abused, for example, to derive personal profiles. The highly sensitive nature of images makes security and privacy in VSNs even more important than in most other sensor and data networks. However, the direct use of security techniques developed for related domains might be misleading due to the different requirements and design challenges. This is especially true for aspects such as data confidentiality and privacy protection against insiders, generating awareness among monitored people, and giving trustworthy feedback about recorded personal data-all of these aspects go beyond what is typically required in other applications. In this survey, we present an overview of the characteristics of VSN applications, the involved security threats and attack scenarios, and the major security challenges. A central contribution of this survey is our classification of VSN security aspects into data-centric, node-centric, network-centric, and user-centric security. We identify and discuss the individual security requirements and present a profound overview of related work for each class. We then discuss privacy protection techniques and identify recent trends in VSN security and privacy. A discussion of open research issues concludes this survey. cases of VSNs; however, it is by far not the only one. Other VSN applications include environmental monitoring, smart homes and meeting rooms, entertainment, and virtual reality, as well as elderly care and assisted living. What all of these applications have in common is that visual sensors capture images that potentially reveal sensitive information about individuals, such as their identities or interaction patterns. Although privacy protection is a critical issue, in many applications, more general security requirements, such as integrity, authenticity, and timestamping for videos, must be considered. In a holistic approach, security and privacy protection must not stop at the data level. Any application-level protection approach will fail if the underlying infrastructure, such as the sensor node or the communication network, remain vulnerable. Naturally, similar security and privacy considerations are also valid for different image sensor types, such as infrared or thermal sensors. Privacy and security requirements for VSNs stand out from other applications because video data are easily analyzed by humans. By nature, images reveal much more than just the obvious identity information. They include subtle clues about people's habits, preferences, or social links. Humans are perfectly trained to grasp and process this type of information. Therefore, protection of data against insiders, such as system operators, is especially important in VSNs. To foster public acceptance of VSNs, it is crucial to be transparent about implemented security and privacy protection mechanisms. User-centric security mechanisms are important to reduce reservations about VSNs in public as well as private environments.
doi:10.1145/2545883 fatcat:hkqdjt3ykvhtrp3vc3ce5mzd5m