Securing ad hoc networks

TLDR

Ad hoc networks are mobile wireless systems that rely on host cooperation rather than fixed infrastructure, making them attractive for military and emerging commercial applications but also highly vulnerable to security attacks. This article investigates the threats facing ad hoc networks and defines the security objectives that must be met. The authors propose a security framework that exploits redundant multi‑route routing to mitigate denial‑of‑service attacks and employs replication with threshold cryptography to provide a robust, highly available key management service.

Abstract

Ad hoc networks are a new wireless networking paradigm for mobile hosts. Unlike traditional mobile wireless networks, ad hoc networks do not rely on any fixed infrastructure. Instead, hosts rely on each other to keep the network connected. Military tactical and other security-sensitive operations are still the main applications of ad hoc networks, although there is a trend to adopt ad hoc networks for commercial uses due to their unique properties. One main challenge in the design of these networks is their vulnerability to security attacks. In this article, we study the threats on ad hoc network faces and the security goals to be achieved. We identify the new challenges and opportunities posed by this new networking environment and explore new approaches to secure its communication. In particular, we take advantage of the inherent redundancy in ad hoc networks-multiple routes between nodes-to defend routing against denial-of-service attacks. We also use replication and new cryptographic schemes, such as threshold cryptography, to build a highly secure and highly available key management service, which terms the core of our security framework.