Analysis and Evaluation of Cooperative Trust Models in Ad Hoc Networks: Application to OLSR Routing Protocol

Abstract

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks are wireless networks, of which the installation does not require any existing infrastructure, this property has induced the philosophy of “all distributed” and distributed control. The departure and arrival of a node is autonomous and does not interfere with the continuity of services. These advantages allow the deployability of these networks in situations where the use of wired networks is expensive, difficult or even impossible. However, with these advantages, some security concerns are emerging. Indeed, with a shared communication medium and in the absence of a central entity or a fixed infrastructure, traditional security solutions are not adapted, it is now difficult to manage encryption keys, certificate distribution, and trust management between nodes. As a node does not necessarily have knowledge about others when the network is growing, trust a priori may not exist. We are interested in this paper to study security problems in Manets in general, and more particularly those related to trust management. This paper detail, the principle, the constraints, and the challenges of deploying suitable trust models, to deal with Manets constraints. An example of a light trust model for enforcing security in OLSR routing protocol used for Manets, is presented and evaluated.