TSR: trust-based secure MANET routing using HMMs

Abstract

In this paper we propose a trust-based security extension to the mobile ad hoc network dynamic source routing protocol (DSR), where the state probability of a node, according to its corresponding hidden Markov model (HMM), is being used for deciding the node's trustworthiness. Our approach detects the selective packet dropping behavior of selfish nodes that could not be detected or defended against with previous suggested solutions. Packet-dropping nodes that are acting selfishly by selectively dropping packets and not sharing their bandwidth with the rest of the network, are excluded from the network. Thus enforcing cooperation among nodes and removing the incentives for selfish node behavior.