Overcoming the challenge of security in a mobile environment

The secure operation of ad hoc networks faces the novel challenge of location verification on top of the security challenges that wireline networks face. The novelty lies in the fact that a node can correctly validate who it is, but lie about its location and exploit this to create problems to the network. There are three main factors that make ad hoc networks more vulnerable: (a) nodes can overhear other nodes announcements, (b) nodes can lie about their location, and (c) nodes can avoid detection and isolation by moving. As a result, malicious nodes can fake their position and this way obstruct the routing. In this work, we explain how location and topology related malice can affect the security of wireless ad hoc networks. First, we present the most important attacks that can stem from misuse of location information. Second, we provide an overview of security routing approaches. Although several of the current techniques are promising, we conclude that there does not exist a bulletproof approach as of yet