AntSec, WatchAnt, and AntRep: Innovative Security Mechanisms for Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) build on user nodes to form the network´s routing infrastructure. In particular, the correct forwarding behaviour of each intermediate node on a multihop path from a source node to a destination node is crucial for the functioning of the mesh network. However, current secure routing solutions and misbehaviour detection mechanisms are not sufficient and are mostly inapplicable in mesh networks based on state-of-the-art wireless technology. In particular, hop- by-hop per-link encryption mechanisms break solutions that are based on the overhearing of the wireless channel, which leads to severe problems in the presence of misbehaving nodes. We present AntSec, WatchAnt, and AntRep, which together address the above security gap. AntSec guarantees integrity and authenticity of routing messages, WatchAnt detects misbehaviour in forwarding data messages as well as routing messages and in addition is able to cope with per-link encryption at the MAC layer. AntRep is a reputation management system and helps take punitive action against misbehaving nodes. AntSec, WatchAnt, and AntRep are well suited for WMNs with a quasi-static network topology. Through a thorough evaluation we show the improved routing performance of AntSec working together with WatchAnt and AntRep.