Self-Configurable Authentication Mechanism with Verifiability in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

In ad hoc networks, all networking functions such as routing and mobility management are performed by the nodes themselves in a self-organizing manner since they do not depend on any centralized authority. However, lack of a centralized authority and a dynamic topology change prompt many security-related challenges, specifically, in providing secure, effective and efficient key management. In this paper, we propose the self-organized key management protocol based on MDS codes in such a way that the functions of a certification authority are distributed into the network nodes themselves and certain number of nodes jointly issue public key certificates to future joining nodes. The proposed scheme satisfies two important security requirements so-called verifiability and traceability to protect against DoS attacks. We compare and evaluate our proposed scheme with previously proposed mechanisms, via theoretical and experimental analysis in a real wireless ad hoc network.