11-06-2012, 11:42 AM
Seminar on Ad hoc networking
Ad hoc networking.DOC (Size: 136 KB / Downloads: 0)
ABSTRACT
By definition, a mobile ad hoc network does not rely on any fixed infrastructure; instead, all networking functions (e.g., routing, mobility management, etc.) are performed by the nodes themselves in a self-organizing manner. For this reason, securing mobile ad hoc networks is challenging and, in some applications this requires a shift in paradigms with respect to the traditional security solutions for wireline networks. Meanwhile, we still rely on traditional cryptographic primitives. There are two extreme ways to introduce security in mobile ad hoc networks:
(1) through a single authority domain, where certificates and/or keys are issued by a single authority, typically in the system setup phase or
(2) through full self-organization, where security does not rely on any trusted authority or fixed server, not even in the initialization phase.
In this seminar, I have taken the second approach.
. INTRODUCTION
Ad hoc networking is a concept in which computers are able to communicate together over wireless links in an independent manner, without needing any fixed and existing infrastructure. This is actually an emerging area in mobile computing and their use is becoming more and more important today, in various areas, especially due to the success of wireless communication protocols such as Bluetooth or 802.11b.
Information systems security also tends to become really essential, because of the growing and wide use of the Internet today. Individual users as well as businesses need their data and communications to be secure, either in terms of authentication, integrity, confidentiality or availability.
NEED OF SECURING AD HOC NETWORKS
The growing commercial and military deployments of these networks have made security design increasingly important. But providing security in ad hoc networks is challenging due to all the characteristics of these networks, such as the vulnerability of the links, the limited physical protection of each node or the dynamically changing topology. Moreover, threats can come from outside the network boundaries as well as within the network as nodes can easily be compromised. However, security in ad hoc networks can be considered in two ways, in terms of secure routing protocols and in terms of secure key distribution and management.
. KEY MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION
PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), an infrastructure for managing digital certificates, was introduced for providing basic security in networks . The most important component of PKI is the CA (Certificate Authority), the trusted entity in the system that vouches for the validity of digital certificates. The success of PKI depends on the availability of the CA to the principals in the system (or the nodes in the network) since a principal must correspond with the CA to get a certificate, check the status of another principal’s certificate, acquire another principal’s digital certificate, and so on. PKI has been widely deployed for wired networks and some infrastructure-based wireless networks.