Key management and delayed verification for Ad hoc networks

This paper proposes a key management scheme for MANET (Mobile Ad hoc NETworks) networks that uses asymmetric cryptography without requiring nodes to know the public keys of the other nodes and without requiring any kind of central server or certification authority. In addition, the paper presents a new method (“delayed verification”) to reduce the delays in route establishment for distance vector routing protocols in cases where routing messages are signed and need to be verified. It applies both solutions to a MANET distance vector routing protocol: SAODV (Secure AODV), which is an extension of AODV (Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector routing protocol) that can be used to protect the route discovery mechanism providing security features like integrity and authentication. Finally, the paper presents results from simulations that show how this enhanced SAODV routing protocol provides the same security that the original one with a much more reduced impact in the network performance.