A survey of secure mobile Ad Hoc routing protocols

Several routing protocols have been proposed in recent years for possible deployment of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) in military, government and commercial applications. In this paper, we review these protocols with a particular focus on security aspects. The protocols differ in terms of routing methodologies and the information used to make routing decisions. Four representative routing protocols are chosen for analysis and evaluation including: Ad Hoc on demand Distance Vector routing (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) and Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA). Secure ad hoc networks have to meet five security requirements: confidentiality, integrity, authentication, non-repudiation and availability. The analyses of the secure versions of the proposed protocols are discussed with respect to the above security requirements.

I. Introduction

In the next generation of wireless communication systems, there is a tremendous need for the rapid deployment of independent mobile users. Significant examples include emergency search/rescue missions, disaster relief efforts, mine site operations, battlefield military operations, electronic classrooms, conferences, convention centers, etc. [40]. A network of such users is referred to as Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET). Such a network does not have any fixed infrastructure (i.e., no base stations/ routers); nodes arbitrarily change their positions resulting in a highly dynamic topology [1], [11], [49] causing wireless links to be broken and re-established onthe-fly.