Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are the networks consisting of a large number of small and tiny sensor nodes. The nodes are supplied with limited power memory and small range of communication. WSN (Rajiv Kumar, 2012) needs a secured and efficient routing path to forward the incoming packet. Security requirement is vital as wireless sensor nodes are generally applied in crucial application where security plays an important role. Sensor nodes are prone to node compromise and different attacks so security issues such as confidentiality and integrity are extremely important while communicating over Internet. This paper briefly gives an overview of some attacks and countermeasures, and also discusses two efficient public key-based algorithms, Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) (Darrel et al., 2004), (William, 2005) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) (Darrel et al., 2004), (William, 2005) that are widely deployed in WSN, and analyzes and compares the performance of both algorithms. We have developed a program for encrypting and decrypting text files in MATLAB

Sensor network lifetime and security are primary concern in sensor network design. In order to enhance the network lifetime for a particular application, many routing protocols (Rajiv Kumar, 2012) were devised. Information security is an important issue in our information society. The availability of inexpensive radio transceivers has enabled new types of applications and created new research challenges. In Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), the waves are free to propagate in the space. This increases the chances of waves getting hacked by the hacker. They are often deployed in large quantities and in environments where they may be exposed to tampering, eavesdropping and attempts to modify transmitted data and insert unauthorized messages into the network. Nodes are very much prone to attacks. It may be possible that the attacker can hack the intermediate nodes and retrieve valuable information. To counter such threats, flexible and effective mechanisms for secure communication are essential.

More efficient techniques must be employed. Encryption (Darrel et al., 2004) is one of the best tools to guarantee the security of sensitive information. It not only provides the information’s security but also functions with digital signature, authentication, secret sub-keeping system security, etc. Therefore, the purpose of adopting encryption techniques is to ensure information integrity and confidentiality, that is, prevent information from tampering, forgery and counterfeiting.

Telecommunications Journal, Cryptography, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), Encryption, Decryption, MATLAB, Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN).