Security Issues & Clustering Based Solutions in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks - A Survey

Abstract

Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a new type of communication network, which can be used for data communication between groups of mobile nodes using wireless channels. The nodes in MANET act as host as well as router and hence, they are responsible for dynamically discovering other nodes for forwarding packets to their destination. In multi hop ad-hoc environment, it is difficult to maintain routes due to the mobility of intermediate nodes, nature of radio communication etc. In the absence of an authentication based security mechanism, malicious nodes can easily corrupt routing tables, caches and other network management information. It has been observed that the wireless MANETs face a larger security problem than conventional wired and wireless networks. Clustering has been evolved as an important research topic in the
area of MANETs. A cluster based approach for ad-hoc network in a large region enables mobile node management, security, fault tolerance, network key management and routing. In MANETs, clustering based routing schemes are used to reduce channel contention in large networks. Implementation of a secured routing protocol among the nodes of a MANET, while keeping intact the benefits of clustering, is a tough task. In this paper, we are discussing the various security issues and their current solutions, especially the clustering based solutions in the Mobile
Ad-hoc network. Initially the main vulnerabilities in the Mobile ad-hoc networks are analyzed, which have made it much easier to suffer from attacks. Then the security criteria of the Mobile ad-hoc networks and the main attack types that exist in it are represented. Finally we are summarizing the present clustering based security solutions for the Mobile ad-hoc networks.