Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy

Call for Papers

Special Issue on Information Security Challenges and Solutions in Wireless Sensor Networks

Challenges and Opportunities

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are often installed without any pre-planned technology and are not monitored. In fact, the fundamental qualities of wireless sensor networks are primarily responsible for their susceptibility to assault. An opponent can easily eavesdrop on communications while data is transported across the air. Additionally, in order to adhere to stringent financial constraints, sensor nodes typically lack tamper resistance, rendering them defenceless against hacking. Further, automated methods are preferred and human involvement should not be needed to counteract attackers that try to breach a network.

In order to maintain data secrecy, integrity and usability, information security guards against unauthorised access, interruption, and data deletion. To safeguard the data, it entails putting in place a variety of protection measures, including penetration detection systems, routers, encoding, and access restrictions. Cybersecurity measures, such as data encryption, may be appropriate in some circumstances. As technology develops, so do the methods for getting around the safety of systems. Information security must therefore improve and adapt. The complexity of adaptation will depend on a number of elements, such as possible threats, knowledge value, vulnerability level, and reliability.

WSNs are bi-directional. They transmit command and control messages to sensors and they receive sensing data from sensors. Different levels of information security may be appropriate for these different data types. Designing good information security in a WSN requires consideration of – and trade-offs between – many issues, including: the functional requirements of the users; the value of the data obtained; the processing power available in the sensors and, hence, the cost of each sensor; the protocols for data transmission and receipt; potential power consumption and sensor lifetime; the reliability of sensors and intermediate nodes; the performance and reliability of wireless links; and the environment in which the WSN will be embedded.

Case studies of information security failures in commercially deployed WSNs and real-world solutions for issues encountered in operational WSNs would be particularly welcome.

This special issue aims to analyse threats in wireless sensor networks and to enumerate the critical problems that need to be resolved. It will provide a summary of the state of the art in terms of solutions for important problems, such as key management services, distributed denial prevention, and secure routing.

Some topics of interest:

An overview of the development and technologies of WSNs
A survey of current security functionality and threats in WSNs
Emerging vulnerabilities and potential defences in WSNs
Information security breaches in commercial WSNs
Optimising the deployment of industrial WSNs, considering security
Information security for WSNs in medical uses
Public-key cryptographic techniques suitable for WSNs
Combining web-based functions with WSNs for information security.

Following a doubly anonymous peer-review process, papers accepted for this special issue will be published on the JTDE website and in the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy – Volume 13, Issue 2, June 2025.

Guest Editors

Dr Muhammad Asim Saleem
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand

Dr Uzair Aslam Bhatti
School of Information and Communication Engineering
Hainan University
Haikou, China

Dr Zahid Ullah
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering
Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Important Dates:
Manuscript submission          January 31, 2025
Acceptance notification          March 28, 2025
Revised manuscript due         April 30, 2025
Publication                                 Early publication on the JTDE website (Volume 13, Issue 2, June 2025)

Writing for the Journal:

The Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy accepts papers on a wide range of topics related to technology and services that support the digital economy and digital society.

Papers that describe novel developments – whether existing or envisaged – and their benefits are particularly welcome. Submissions should be original, unpublished work, and should not be under review elsewhere.

Papers should be written for knowledgeable readers who are not necessarily experts in the relevant field of research. Authors should be careful to situate their work within the context of the digital economy.

Papers should be about 4,000–5,000 words in length, excluding references.

Paper Submission

Prior to paper submission, you are required to register through the JTDE website: https://jtde.telsoc.org/index.php/jtde. Please ensure that your name, email address and affiliation are correctly inserted.
Submission of your paper in JTDE format must be done electronically through the JTDE website: https://jtde.telsoc.org/index.php/jtde. Please follow the checklist and author’s guidelines.
When submitting your paper, choose “WSN Security” as the section of the Journal. You will receive an email notification when your paper has been successfully submitted.

Any further inquiries can be directed to the Managing Editor at editor@jtde.telsoc.org.