IETE Technical Review
Vol 23, No 6, November-December 2006, pp 335-344
A Review of Security in Mobile
Ad hoc Networks
CHARU GANDHI
Apaji Institute of Mathematics and Applied Computer Technology,
Banasthali Vidyapeeth, Banasthali 304 022, India.
AND
MAYANK DAVE, MIETE
Department of Computer Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Kurukshetra 136 119, India.
In mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), the communicating nodes do not rely on fixed
infrastructure which results into several challenges. The power and computational
resources are limited in these networks, making security requirements different from wired
or infrastructured networks. As mobile ad hoc networks use wireless links, the network is
susceptible to link attacks ranging from passive eavesdropping to active impersonation,
message replay and message dropping. When the nodes are mobile, they not only lack
physical security but they can also be compromised easily because there is no central
entity in mobile ad hoc networks. In addition, as mobile ad hoc networks are often designed
for specific environments for example battlefields, the security solutions applied in
traditional networks are not directly suitable for protecting them. This paper reviews various
issues and techniques involved in the security of mobile ad hoc networks. |
1. INTRODUCTION MOBILE ad hoc networks (MANET) [1, 2] are
networks offering unrestricted mobility without
any underlying infrastructure. Mobile ad hoc network
is a collection of autonomous nodes or terminals
communicating with each other by forming a multihop
network. MANET have found their applications in
providing extremely flexible method of establishing
communications in situations where, geographical Dynamic Topologies In MANET, the nodes are free to move independently in any direction. The network topology may change randomly at unpredictable times and primarily consists of bidirectional links. Bandwidth Constraint Operation These networks have lower capacity than fixed infrastructure networks.
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The throughput of wireless communication is lesser than wired communication because of the effect of the multiple access, ading, noise, interference conditions. Limited Resources The nodes or hosts here operate on small batteries and other exhaustible means of energy. So energy conservation is the ost important design optimization criteria. Decentralized Control The working of MANET depends upon cooperation
of participating nodes thus, implementation
of any protocol that involves a centralized authority, 2. ROUTING IN MANET The primary goal of MANET is to establish a correct and efficient route between a pair of nodes and to ensure the correct and timely delivery of packets. The protocols for routing can be classified as proactive/ table driven, reactive/on-demand and hybrid. |
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