A Graph-Theoretic Algorithm for Detection of Multiple Wormhole Attacks in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The lack of any centralized infrastructure in mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) is one of the greatest security concerns in the deployment of wireless networks. MANET functions properly only if the participating nodes cooperate in routing without any malicious intention. However, some of the nodes may be malicious in their behavior by initially attracting a large amount of traffic and later on launching active security attacks like denial of services. Due to the dynamic topology and unreliable wireless links, ad hoc networks are prone to many security attacks. This paper addresses few related works concerned with wormhole attacks. A graph theoretic approach based on adjacency matrix of a network is proposed which easily detects the presence of wormholes in mobile ad hoc network. This approach is advantageous since it does not increase the computation complexity in a mobile node which is resourceconstrained.