A Secure Routing Algorithm for MANET

Abstract

Mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) bring great challenges in security due to its high dynamics, link vulnerability and complete decentralization. With routing being a critical aspect for MANETs, existing routing protocols however are not sufficient for security requirements. In this paper, we present a route discovery algorithm that mitigates the detrimental effects of malicious behavior, as to provide correct connectivity information. Our algorithm guarantees that fabricated, compromised, or replayed route replies would either be rejected or never reach back the querying node. Furthermore, the algorithm responsiveness is safeguarded under different types of attacks that exploit the routing algorithm itself. The sole requirement of the proposed scheme is the existence of a security association between the node initiating the query and the sought destination. Specifically, no assumption is made regarding the intermediate nodes, which may exhibit arbitrary and malicious behavior. The scheme is robust in the presence of a number of non-colluding nodes, and provides accurate routing information in a timely manner.