Survey on Survival Approaches in Wireless Network against Jamming Attack

Wireless networks are more depicted to intentional or unintentional threats than their wired based equivalent networks. Major reason being the wireless medium which can be listened and interfered by non-participants, in an on-going valid communication. In the absence of a collision detection mechanism and relying mainly on cooperation of each other for packet routing, the standard defined for wireless network is unable to identify any malicious activity, by default [1]. Among attacks the ones which create isolation of the nodes on the network are considered more severe. If they last long enough, can result in denial-of-service and hence network collapses completely. The simplest form of such attacks is jamming attack which can block any current legitimate communication. It is easy to launch as no especial hardware is required and the area in range can be jammed for any legal communication. Jamming is a specialized Denial of Service attack in which purpose is not to overflow buffers, instead to choke the physical communication channel, hence handling jammer is much harder than other attacks. Unlike other attacks, especially routing attacks, no network parameter and topology etc need to be known in advance before launching jamming attack. However, if the network parameters are known and the attack is intelligently placed, a jammer can last longer on the network resulting in more survival time and thus increased damage. This paper surveys on different types of jamming attack and the mitigation techniques generally used. Besides this, we investigate about the approaches proposed that are considered efficient to survive in a jammed region, actively. Finally, we conclude by highlighting the potential areas which can be targeted to optimize in minimizing the effects of a jamming attack, as future directions.