A simulation study of security performance using multipath routing in ad hoc networks

In this paper, we investigate the security performance of the SPREAD scheme, which we proposed as a complementary mechanism to enhance data confidentiality in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). SPREAD is based on two principles, secret sharing and multipath routing. By a secret sharing scheme, a secret message can be divided into multiple shares; then by multipath routing, the shares can be delivered to the destination via multiple paths. Improved security is expected because an adversary (adversaries) will have more difficulty in collecting enough shares to compromise the secret message. As the broadcast wireless channel of a MANET has a significant impact on the performance of multipath routing, we examine the performance of SPREAD based on the shared single wireless channel model by simulation. Our results show that SPREAD scheme is effective in reducing the message compromising and eavesdropping probability. The impacts of node mobility and different share allocations on the performance of SPREAD are also investigated.