The mobile ad hoc networks get subjected to security threats like other wireless networks. But due to their peer to peer approach and absence of infrastructural resources the mobile ad hoc networks can not use strong cryptographic... more
The mobile ad hoc networks get subjected to security threats like other wireless networks. But due to their peer to peer approach and absence of infrastructural resources the mobile ad hoc networks can not use strong cryptographic mechanisms as used by their other wireless counterparts. This led to the development of trust based methods as security solutions wherein a trusted node is relaxed from security checks when the trust value reaches to a particular limit. The trust methods are prone to security risks but have found their acceptance due to efficiency over computationally expensive and time consuming cryptographic methods. The major problem with the trust methods is the period during which trust is growing and is yet to reach the requisite threshold. This paper proposes security mechanism dependent upon Random Electronic Code Book (RECB) combined with permutation functions. The proposed mechanism has low time complexity, is easier to implement, computationally inexpensive and has very high brute force search value. It can be used as the temporary security guard during the trust growth phase. The impetus behind the proposed design is the reliance upon shared information between the peers in the ad hoc networks.
