Abstract: Disclosed is a method for sensor network authentication based on an XOR chain, which authenticates a transmitting node and a message in a sensor network including a central server, a plurality of transmitting nodes, and a plurality of receiving nodes, the method comprising the steps of: (a) receiving an initial key from the central server, generating a key chain from the initial key, generating a first key chain parameter sequence from the key chain, generating authentication information by XORing all the first key chain parameter sequence, and generating a second key chain parameter sequence by XORing each parameter of the first key chain parameter sequence with the authentication information, by each of the transmitting nodes; (b) transmitting first and second parameters of the same position in the first and second key chain parameter sequences of the transmitting node together with a message by the transmitting node; and (c) XORing the first and second parameters and comparing a result of the XOR operation