Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the latest research related to secure routing protocols in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and propose a new approach that can achieve a higher security level compared to the existing one. One of the main security issues in WSNs is the security of routing protocols. A typical WSN consists of a large number of small size, low-power, low-cost sensor devices. These devices are very resource-constrained and usually use cheap short-range radios to communicate with each other in an ad hoc fashion thus, achieving security in these networks is a big challenge, which is open for research. Design/methodology/approach – The route updates and data messages of the protocol are authenticated using Edwards-curves Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA). Routing protocols play an essential role in WSNs, they ensure the delivery of the sensed data from the remote sensor nodes to back-end systems via a data sink. Routing protocols depend on route updates received from neighboring nodes to determine the best path to the sink. Manipulating these updates by inserting rouge nodes in the network that advertise false updates can lead to a catastrophic impact on the compromised WSN performance. Findings – As a result, a new secure energy-aware routing protocol (SEARP) is proposed, which uses security enhanced clustering algorithm and EdDSA to authenticate route advertisements and messages. A secure clustering algorithm is also used as part of the proposed protocol to conserve energy, prolong network lifetime and counteract wormhole attacks. Originality/value – In this paper, a SEARP is proposed to address network layer security attacks in WSNs. A secure clustering algorithm is also used as part of the proposed protocol to conserve energy, prolong network lifetime and counteract wormhole attacks. A simulation has been carried out using Sensoria Simulator and the performance evaluation has been discussed.