Security in heterogeneous wireless ad hoc networks: Challenges and solutions

Wireless ad hoc networks have been widely accepted as an indispensable component of next-generation communication systems to facilitate ubiquitous network access. Although offering significant benefits, they also provide unique security challenges over their wired counterparts. Of note are the issues associated with the open network architecture, shared wireless medium, stringent resource constraints, high network dynamics, lack of trusted authorities, and so on. In this dissertation, we aim to address a number of challenging security issues in heterogeneous wireless ad hoc networks, spanning mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and wireless mesh networks (WMNs).; Our contributions are mainly fivefold. First, we propose an anonymous on-demand routing protocol (MASK) to deal with malicious eavesdropping and traffic analysis attacks against MANETs deployed in hostile environments. Second, we design a secure, scalable ID-based key management scheme for MANETs to enable flexible public-key services without reliance on conventional public-key certificates. Third, we devise a secure localization scheme to ensure secure location estimates in WSNs despite malicious attacks. Fourth, we develop a suite of location-based, compromise-tolerant security mechanisms for WSNs. Last, we present an attack-resilient secure authentication and billing architecture for WMNs.