Shared Secret Key Generation Technique Using Traffic Load To Avoid Active And Colluding Attackers

Abstract

newlineMobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) are self organized communication network that does not need any base stations. These networks can comprise a variety of nodes such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), mobile phones, laptops, etc. The growth in the field of wireless communications makes people communicate with any devices in any location. All these devices can communicate with each other in real-time without any delay. This is happened mainly due to the tremendous advancement in the field of wireless communication. MANETs are categorized under this wireless technology which is used for specific applications. As this network does not have a central controller, all the nodes are at risk of eavesdropping. newlineHere malicious nodes can make attempt to intrude and disturb the normal operation of these newly employed networks. In every communication, it is important to maintain the confidentiality of the message which is transferred. One of the most commonly used approaches to ensure security is a secret key technique in both wired and wireless networks. newlineIn this research, an efficient key management scheme for MANET s is proposed. Here, the randomness for the key generation is harvested from traffic metadata used in the communication. This is done by maintaining the length of the key length as low as possible. This research also analyzes a security model that protects the network from active attackers. This proposal is to overcome the limitations of the present randomness generation schemes based on routing information. newlineThe first contribution of the research is the selection of a suitable source of randomness for cryptographic purposes. The strength of the cryptographic system fully depends on the randomness of the newly generated key. Then it will be difficult for the adversary to retrieve the key from the available source of information. The randomness is extracted from the routing metadata maintained by the routing algorithm such as Dynamic Source Routing (DSR). The overhead incurred in this generation