Rushing Attack in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Rushing attacks in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) cause system resources to become scarce and isolates legitimate users from the network. Therefore, this sort of attack significantly influences network connectivity and weakens networking functions and capabilities such as control and message delivery. This paper will focus on rushing attack which threatens the security of the mobile ad hoc network by studying this type of attack and its impact on mobile ad hoc networks. First, previous research on rushing attack is examined as well as the various protocols established to improve the potential solution for this attack. Second, we analyze the Secured Dynamic Source Routing (SDSR) protocol which has been designed to address rushing attack, to reduce overhead in the network and the time required. Furthermore, we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the Secured Dynamic Source Routing protocol, and find that this is the best solution to address the rushing attack problem. In addition, this thesis proposes two mechanisms to reduce the overhead and time in the SDSR protocol to ensure all neighbours in the network are safe. Finally, this work concludes by summarizing the major achievements of this research and discusses future work.