Attack and defence evaluation of security methods in mobile ad hoc networks

A mobile ad hoc network consists of wireless nodes that build a robust radio network without any pre-existing infrastructure or centralized servers. However, these networks have inherent vulnerabilities that make them susceptible to malicious attacks. In order to secure ad hoc networks advanced techniquesmust be used, one efficient solution is to use specification-based intrusion detection, especially when combined with traditional cryptographic methods. In this report, we have studied attacks on realistic networks to see what effect they have on communications. We show that some of the well known attacks on AODV do have a significant effect, preventing more or less all nodes from communicating. However, as we also show, our specification-based Intrusion Detection System removes almost all of the effects of the attacks by discarding detected incorrect packets. This can be done with very little cost in terms of overhead and false alarms. We have also studied OLSR and show that the same methods could be applied also on this protocol.