A Secure AODV Protocol Based on Distributed EigenTrust Algorithm against Packet Drop Attacks in WMNs

In view of the increasing threats to routing protocols of the wireless mesh networks (WMNs), reputation mechanisms are widely used to mitigate the effects of routing attacks. However, in many reputation schemes different nodes generally hold various opinions about one’s reputation value. To compute a comprehensive and consensus reputation for each node in the WMN, this paper improves a distributed EigenTrust algorithm in terms of modifying initial value and termination condition to guarantee the convergence of the algorithm when no pre-trusted nodes are specified. In addition, the improved algorithm is implemented into the AODV routing protocol in Linux operating system to resist against the packet drop attack. Finally, experimental results show that our implementation is able to switch from a route compromised by an attack to a more reliable route for data transmission.