A Trust Based Cross Layer Security Protocol for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Abstract: In this paper, we develop a trust based security protocol based on a cross layer approach which attains confidentiality and authentication of packets in both routing and link layers of MANETs. In the first phase of the protocol, we design a trust based packet forwarding scheme for detecting and isolating the malicious nodes using the routing layer information. It uses trust values to favor packet forwarding by maintaining a trust counter for each node. A node is punished or rewarded by decreasing or increasing the trust counter. If the trust counter value falls below a trust threshold, the corresponding intermediate node is marked as malicious. In the next phase of the protocol, we provide link layer security using the CBCX mode of authentication and encryption. By simulation results, we show that the proposed cross layer security protocol achieves high packet delivery ratio while attaining low delay and overhead.