Mobile adhoc network

A Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of self-governing mobile nodes

communicating in a decentralized manner means MANETs dynamically establish the network
in the absence of fixed infrastructure .The nodes are free to move randomly and organize
themselves arbitrary thus the networks topology may change rapidly and unpredictably. Mobile
adhoc networks are infrastructure-less networks since they do not require base station for their
operation. Mobile adhoc networks are also called as multihop wireless networks because nodes
in adhoc may include multiple hops. Each node may be able to communicate directly with any
other node that resides within its range.

Complexities and design constraints

Manet does not depend on fixed infrastructure
Each node acts an independent router and generates independent data. Network management has
to be distributed across different nodes which add difficulty in fault detection and management.
Multi-hop routing
Each node acts as router and forwards each others packet to enable information sharing between
mobile hosts
Dynamically changing topology
In mobile adhoc network the network topology which is typically multihop can change
frequently and unpredictably results in route changes, frequent network partition and possibly
packet losses.
Variation in node and link capabilities
Each node may be equipped with different interfaces that have a varying transmission / receiving
capabilities. This heterogeneity in node radio capabilities can result in possibly asymmetric links.
Energy constraint
Each node carries a battery which has limited power supply, processing power is limited which
in turn limits services and applications that can be supported by each node
Network scalability
Dynamic nodes may change the trust relationship among nodes. The trust may also be disturbed
if some nodes are detected compromised. This dynamic behavior could be better protected with
distributed and adaptive security measures.

Limited Power supply

The nodes in adhoc network need to consider restricted power supply which will cause several
problems.
No Precise Boundary
In mobile adhoc we cannot precisely define a physical boundary of the network. The nodes work
in nomadic environment where they are allowed to join and leave the network.

SECURITY ISSUES
Security in mobile adhoc is very challenging
Availability: It ensures survivability of network despite denial of service attack.
Confidentiality: Confidentiality ensures that computer related assets are accessed only by
authorized parties
Integrity: Integrity means that assets can only modified by authorized parties or only in
authorized way. Modification includes writing, changing status, deleting and creating. Integrity
assures that a message being transferred is never corrupted.
Authentication: Authentication is essentially assurance that participants in communication are
authenticated and not impersonators
Authorization: This property assigns different access rights to different types of users. For
example a network management can be performed by network administrator only.
ATTACKS IN MANET
Securing wireless adhoc network is highly challenging issue. Security of communication in
MANET is important for secure transmission of information.
External Attack: External attacks are carried out by nodes that do not belong to network. It
causes congestion sends false routing information or causes unavailability of services.
Internal Attack: In an internal attack the malicious node from network gains unauthorized
access and impersonate a genuine node
Denial of service attack: this attack aims to attack the availability of a node or the entire
network.
Impersonation
If the authentication mechanism is not properly implemented a malicious node can act as a
genuine node and monitor the network traffic.

It can also send fake routing packets, and gain access to some confidential information.
Routing Attacks: The malicious node make routing services a target because its an important
service in MANETs. There are two flavors to this routing attack

Attack on routing protocol

Attack on packet forwarding or delivery mechanism.

Black Hole Attack

In this attack malicious node sends fake routing information claiming that it has an
optimum route and causes other nodes to route data packets through it.
A malicious node then drops all the packets that it receives instead of normally
forwarding those packets

Worm Hole Attack

Wormhole nodes fake a route that is shorter than the original one within the network this
can confuse routing mechanisms which rely on the knowledge about distance between
nodes.

It has one or more malicious nodes and a tunnel between them

The attacking node captures the packets from one location and transmits them to other
distant located node which distributes them locally.

Gray Hole Attack Also known as routing misbehavior attack which leads to dropping of
messages
Man in The Middle Attack: Attacker sniffs the information sent between the sender and
receiver
Eavesdropping This is a passive attack. In this attack node simply observes the confidential
information and can be later used by malicious node.

BROADCASTING APPROACHES IN MANET

Unicasting: Sending a message from source to single destination.
Multicasting: Sending a message from source to set of destinations

Broadcasting: Flooding of message from source to all other nodes in specified network.
Geocasting: Sending a message from source to all other nodes inside a geographic region.