A Reputation-Based Clustering Mechanism for MANET Routing Security

A Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes having no fixed topology and cooperating with each other. Due to these particularities, classical routing protocols cannot be used and some specific ones have been proposed. Because routing process is fundamental in a MANET deployment, it constitutes a privileged target of attackers. In this paper we propose a novel reputation-based clustering mechanism to locate malicious nodes and isolate them. In order to reduce network overhead and to handle network topology dynamicity, the proposed mechanism is based on a specific clustering environment. The clustering maintenance complexity is for its part reduced by the use of a reputation based delegation process allowing the cluster-head to delegate its privileges to a chosen cluster member in case of displacement or lack of energy. Moreover, node´s reputation handling allows the detection and isolation of malicious nodes. Five modules constitute this mechanism: a monitoring module to detect malicious nodes, a reputation module to update reputation values, an isolation module to discard malicious nodes, an identity recognition module to assess alerts sources and a delegation module to allow clusterhead privileges delegation.