Security issues in MANET and Counter-Measures

A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring network of mobile nodes connected by wireless link. These nodes are free to move randomly and organize themselves arbitrarily; thus, the network's wireless topology may change rapidly and unpredictably. MANETs are usually set up in situations of emergency for temporary operations or simply if there are no resources to set up elaborate networks. These types of networks operate in the absence of any fixed infrastructure, which makes them easy to deploy and also in a way they are borderless, at the same time however, due to the absence of any fixed infrastructure, it becomes difficult to make use of the existing routing techniques for network services, and this poses a number of challenges in ensuring the security of the communication network, something that is not easily done as many of the demands of network security conflict with the demands of mobile networks, mainly due to the nature of the mobile devices (e.g. low power consumption, low processing load). Many of the ad hoc routing protocols that address security issues rely on implicit trust relationships to route packets among participating nodes. Apart from security objectives like authentication, confidentiality, integrity, availability and non- repudiation, the ad hoc routing protocols should also address location confidentiality, cooperation fairness and absence of traffic diversion. In this paper we attempt to analyze security issues faced by the mobile ad hoc network environment and provide a classification of the various security mechanisms. We analyzed the respective strengths and vulnerabilities of the existing routing protocols and suggest a broad and comprehensive frame-work that can provide a tangible solution.