Wireless networks have experienced explosive growth during the last few years. Nowadays, there are a large variety of networks spanning from the well-known cellular networks to noninfrastructure wireless networks such as mobile ad hoc networks and sensor networks. Communication security is essential to the success of wireless sensor network applications, especially for those mission-critical applications working in unattended and even hostile environments. However, providing satisfactory security protection in wireless sensor networks has ever been a challenging task due to various network and resource constraints and malicious attacks.

In this special issue, we concentrate mainly on security and privacy as well as the emerging applications of wireless sensor network. It aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from wireless and sensor networking, security, cryptography, and distributed computing communities, with the goal of promoting discussions and collaborations. We are interested in novel research on all aspects of security in wireless sensor networks and tradeoff between security and performance such as QoS, dependability, and scalability. The special issue covers industrial issues/applications and academic research into security and privacy for wireless sensor networks.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Attacks and countermeasures
• Authentication and access control
• Computer-aided tool for security
• Cross-layer design for security
• Cryptographic protocol
• Denial of service (DoS)
• Key management
• Information hiding
• Intrusion detection and response
• Malicious behavior detection and analysis
• Privacy and anonymity
• Secure localization and synchronization
• Security and performance tradeoff
• Security policy and enforcement issues
• Security protocols analysis, design, and proof
• Secure routing/MAC
• Surveillance and monitoring
• Trust establishment and management