SECURITY ANALYSIS MOBILE ADHOC NETWORKS

Security Analysis Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Security Analysis Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Introduction

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes dynamically forming a temporary network without any existing network infrastructure or centralized administration. Unlike networks using dedicated nodes to support basic functions like packet forwarding, routing, and network management, in ad hoc networks these functions are carried out by all available nodes ([Kong et al., 2001], [Perkins, 2000] and [Zhang and Lee, 2000]). MANETs provide an emerging technology for civilian and military applications. However, security in MANET is hard to achieve due to the vulnerability of the link, the limited physical protection of the nodes, and the absence of a certification authority or centralized management point.

The existing security proposals in ad hoc networks are typically attack-oriented ([Royer and Toh, 1999] and [Zhang and Lee, 2000]) since they first identify several security threats and then enhance the existing protocol or propose a new protocol to challenge such threats. Because the solutions are designed explicitly with certain attack models in mind, they work well in the presence of designated attacks but may collapse under new attacks.

When the security of a given network architecture is not properly designed from the beginning, then the security goals (i.e. authenticity, confidentiality, integrity, and availability) are difficult to achieve during network deployment. It is essential, therefore, to design secure ad hoc networks that will result in multiple lines of defense against both known and unknown security threats. This design is what we have called layered security design in Komninos et al. (2006).

In the layered security design presented in Komninos et al. (2006), we take into consideration not only malicious attacks but also other network faults due to misconfiguration, extreme network overload, or operational failures. All such faults, whether caused by attacks or by misconfiguration, share some symptoms from both the network and the end-user perspectives, and should be handled by appropriate security mechanisms. In addition, the overall system has to be robust and it should not be critically affected by the breakdown of any individual line of defense.

Authentication can be considered as one of the most important primitives in an ad hoc network. Due to the nature of ad hoc networks and based on the proposed layered security approach, several questions arise. How authentication can be established between neighboring nodes? Which current authentication protocols are applicable to ad hoc networks? What cryptographic techniques are suitable for such networks? In this article, we seek to identify the security issues related to authentication and also examine the adaptation of challenge-response cryptographic protocols, which are based on symmetric and asymmetric techniques, in a layered security approach. The node authentication methodology implements multiple lines of defense against malicious attacks through the layered approach and is presented with simulation results.

Contextual Review

Security is an issue that it is more sensitive in MANET than in other networks, due to the open nature and lack of infrastructure of ad hoc ...