Anomaly Detection and Mitigation for Disaster Area Networks

One of the most challenging applications of wireless networking are in disaster area networks where lack of infrastructure, limited energy resources, need for common operational picture and thereby reliable dissemination are prevalent. In this paper we address anomaly detection in intermittently connected mobile ad hoc networks in which there is little or no knowledge about the actors on the scene, and opportunistic contacts together with a store-and-forward mechanism are used to overcome temporary partitions. The approach uses a statistical method for detecting anomalies when running a manycast protocol for dissemination of important messages to k receivers. Simulation of the random walk gossip (RWG) protocol combined with detection and mitigation mechanisms is used to illustrate that resilience can be built into a network in a fully distributed and attack-agnostic manner, at a modest cost in terms of drop in delivery ratio and additional transmissions. The approach is evaluated with attacks by adversaries that behave in a similar manner to fair nodes when invoking protocol actions.