Mitigating route request flooding attacks in mobile ad hoc networks

Abstract

A mobile ad hoc network is set up with a group of mobile wireless nodes without the use of any dedicated routers or base stations. Each node acts as an end node as well as a router for other nodes. There are generally two types of ad hoc routing protocols, reactive and proactive routing protocols. The focus of this paper centers on reactive routing protocols which establish routes between communicating nodes when needed using a route discovery process involving Route Requests and Route Replies, a process which can be easily misused for denial-of-service attacks. In this paper, we will describe one such attack, the Route Request Flooding Attack (RRFA) targeted at reactive routing protocols used in mobile ad hoc networks. Then, we propose the Route Request Flooding Defence (RRFD) mechanism that is designed to reduce the impact of RRFA. Finally, we present simulation results to show the detrimental effects of RRFA and the effectiveness of RRFD. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.