Property Based Intrusion Detection to Secure OLSR

Abstract

In this paper, we examine security issues related to proactive routing protocols for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). Specifically, we investigate security properties of the optimized link-state routing (OLSR) protocol, a proactive routing protocol for MANETs. We analyze the possible attacks against the integrity of the network routing infrastructure, and present techniques to counter some attacks. Our main approach is based on a formal model to describe normal and incorrect node behaviors. This model allows us to derive security properties. The algorithm checks if these security properties are violated. If they are, detection occurs to allow the normal node to find a path without incorrect node behavior. Our approach does not change the message format, so it is very easy to implement the corresponding algorithm. While we use OLSR as an example of protocol for our studies, we argue that the presented techniques apply equally to any proactive routing protocol for MANETs.