LDoS attack in ad-hoc network

Abstract

LDoS (Low-rate Denial of Service) attack is periodic, stealthy, and with high efficiency, which has become a great threat to the network security. Previous researches about LDoS attack mainly focus on its impact on wired networks. However, our analysis shows that such attack could also be launched in Ad-hoc network, and as a completely distinct MAC layer protocol is adopted in this environment, the form and effect of the attack could be different and need re-evaluation. This paper presents a study of LDoS attack in Ad-hoc network: (1) We investigate the differences of attack form brought by the medium reservation mechanism and CSMA/CA of 802.11b, and find that decreasing the period of LDoS attack into a smaller time scale would achieve a higher attack efficiency; (2) We show that the attack effect differs from that in wired networks, and the attacker's location has an impact on it; (3) We verify our findings by simulation experiments in NS-2; (4) Detection and defense methods are explored to counter against such attack.