Secure cooperative mobile ad hoc networks against injecting traffic attacks

We investigate how to defend against injecting traffic attacks in cooperative mobile ad hoc networks where nodes belong to the same authority and pursue the common goals. By injecting an overwhelming amount of traffic into the network, the attackers can easily consume good nodes' valuable network resources and reduce the network's lifetime. Since in cooperative mobile ad hoc networks nodes will usually unconditionally forward packets for other nodes, such networks are extremely vulnerable to injecting traffic attacks, especially those launched by inside attackers. In this paper, the possible types of injecting traffic attackers are studied, and a set of mechanisms are proposed to protect cooperative mobile ad hoc network against such attacks. The performance of the proposed mechanisms is analyzed. Both theoretical and experimental bounds are derived, which show that from attackers' point of view, the best strategy is not to launch injecting traffic attacks. Simulation studies have also verified the theoretical analysis.