Paola Torrico Morón, Salma Salimi, Jorge Peña Queralta, Tomi Westerlund
Systems for relative localization in multi-robot systems based on ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging have recently emerged as robust solutions for GNSS-denied environments. Scalability remains one of the key challenges, particularly in ad-hoc deployments. Recent solutions include dynamic allocation of active and passive localization modes for different robots or nodes in the system. With larger-scale systems becoming more distributed, key research questions arise in the areas of security and trustability of such localization systems. This paper studies the potential integration of collaborative-decision making processes with distributed ledger technologies. Specifically, we investigate the design and implementation of a methodology for running an UWB role allocation algorithm within smart contracts in a blockchain. In previous works, we have separately studied the integration of ROS2 with the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain, and introduced a new algorithm for scalable UWB-based localization. In this paper, we extend these works by (i) running experiments with larger number of mobile robots switching between different spatial configurations and (ii) integrating the dynamic UWB role allocation algorithm into Fabric smart contracts for distributed decision-making in a system of multiple mobile robots. This enables us to deliver the same functionality within a secure and trustable process, with enhanced identity and data access management. Our results show the effectiveness of the UWB role allocation for continuously varying spatial formations of six autonomous mobile robots, while demonstrating a low impact on latency and computational resources of adding the blockchain layer that does not affect the localization process.
Jinqi Su, Runtao Ren, Yinghao Li, Raymond Y.K. Lau · 5 authors
Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are the industrial cornerstone of intelligent transportation system (ITS), which are widely used in traffic management, automatic driving, and road optimization. With the expansion of the scale of the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and smart vehicles (SV), VANETs will produce a large amount of data. In the open access environment of VANETs, the security of information transmission and the authenticity of user identity need to be considered when different vehicles communicate. In order to solve the cybersecurity risks of largeâscale deployment of VANET, this paper proposes a trusted blockchainâbased signcryption protocol and data management (TBâSCDM) for authentication and authorization (A&A) in VANETs. In the existing attack model, TBâSCDM can ensure the confidentiality and undeniability of information, as well as can effectively resist 51% attacks, eclipse attacks and doubleâspending attacks, etc. Through benchmark analysis, this scheme has higher computing efficiency and lower storage cost compared with other existing schemes.
D. N. Rao, G. Vidhya, M. Rajesh, Vipin Jain · 7 authors
The new IoT apps will not be able to inspire people to utilize them and may ultimately lose all their potential if an interoperable and trustworthy ecosystem is not provided. IoT has its extra security difficulties such as information storage, administration, privacy concerns, and authentication. The presently deployed IoT apps have encountered various security and privacy assaults globally. Due to being less secure and low powered, the IoT devices present a simple entryway to the adversaries to obtain access to the corporate networks, leading to giving easy control over all of the data of the users. The objective of this doctorate proposed work will be to solve the security associated difficulties in multiple IoT domains like the eâcommerce, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET), mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), and Internet of Drones (IoD). The proposed study focuses on the development of a distributed framework for IoT based on blockchain. The framework includes the usage of Ethereumâbased smart contracts and auction models to increase the income and QoS for both the seller and the buyer and the development of a DAG chainâbased distributed framework for parking lot allocation in a network of automobiles. The suggested model includes the requirement of obtaining agreement among the nodes with probability one in such a circumstance. The suggested model demonstrates to be predictable as typical votingâbased consensus protocols like Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) and at the same time can accommodate a high number of nodes even in an asynchronous setting. Research on Byzantine faultâtolerant systems has been ongoing for more than four decades, and although the solutions were shown to be feasible early on, they remained unworkable for a long time. With PBFT, the first feasible solution was provided in 1999, and this sparked fresh research that has resulted in unique applications that are still being developed today employing this technology. Despite the fact that the safety and liveness properties of PBFTâtype protocols have been thoroughly investigated, when it comes to practical performance, only empirical resultsâoften obtained in artificial environmentsâare known, and imperfections in the communication channels are not explicitly considered. It is our goal in this paper to propose the first performance model for PBFT that takes into account the effect of unreliable channels as well as the usage of alternative transport protocols across those channels. We also performed a large number of simulations to test the model and acquire a better understanding of the influence of different deployment factors on the total transaction timeframe.
Routing in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are based on multi-hop communication in which the messages pass through multiple sensor nodes, and hence routing algorithms must rely on trust relationships between neighboring nodes. The open access nature of WSNs leads to the possibility of nodes becoming compromised and consequently being turned into malicious objects. One such attack on WSNs is the Sybil attack, in which an attacker can take control of a legitimate node or enter a malicious node into the network and create fake identities. Consequently, they can change the behavior of the WSN, such as its routing schema to cause loops or wrong directions to manipulate data and consume the energy of the network, or even target cluster heads. In this paper, we present a novel technique based on IOTA Tangle, a distributed ledger technology, for the detection and prevention of Sybil attacks by protecting routing data. A transaction history on IOTA is maintained for detecting malicious node injection, and IOTA currency is used as a reputation score to prevent malicious nodes and protect the routing table. Even if an attacker gains access to the network, all routing data can be tracked in IOTA Tangle that will alert the base station about this attack. The technique has been simulated and evaluated using a proof-of-concept prototype.
We present a new stochastic model for the evolution of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG)-based distributed ledgers (DL), under the presence of heterogeneous delay. This model is used to analyse the performance metrics of the DL, showing in particular that the number of unapproved messages does not diverge to infinity, even under the presence of delay. We propose an analysis based on conveniently defined sets, as well as an alternative drift-based analysis. The former allows to get a bound on the number of unapproved messages, while the latter, through a simpler analysis, allows to probe the existence of such bound. For particular scenarios, we are able to derive the expected value of the drift of unapproved messages, through a Markov process-based approach. State-of-the-art mathematical models trying to capture the impact of delays on the performance of such DLs rely on some particular simplifications. In contrast, through our model, we are able to analytically derive similar performance guarantees, in a more realistic setup. In particular, we focus on IOTA foundation's tangle, while our results can be extended to other DAG-based distributed ledgers. We compare our results to results obtained in a real testbed, showing good accordance between them.
Due to the mobility of devices, device-to-device (D2D) communication is a promising fifth-generation (5G) technology in dynamic environments for improving message transmission efficiency for group communication. Additionally, all services in an ad hoc network are current Vehicle Ad Hoc Network (VANET) applications. Therefore, D2D communication has been introduced in ad hoc environments to reduce latency during vehicle conversations, such as autonomous vehicle solutions and drone fleet management for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) modules and Internet of Drones (IoDs) networks. However, providing secure and effective group communication is an urgent challenge. To solve these problems, we propose a dynamic group management solution based on distributed ledger technology. This study demonstrates that a distributed ledger-based hierarchical architecture for dynamic group management is faster and more adaptable without compromising security and performance. Furthermore, the proposed method can facilitate the transfer of direct communication data without a centralized database, thereby reducing the chance of a single point of failure. In addition, the research was tested by a third party that has established close cooperation with world-leading automotive electronics suppliers in Taiwan.
Joachim Neu, Srivatsan Sridhar, Lei Yang, David Tse · 5 authors
Satoshi Nakamoto's Proof-of-Work (PoW) longest chain (LC) protocol was a breakthrough for Internet-scale open-participation consensus. Many Proof-of-Stake (PoS) variants of Nakamoto's protocol such as Ouroboros or Snow White aim to preserve the advantages of LC by mimicking PoW LC closely, while mitigating downsides of PoW by using PoS for Sybil resistance. Previous works have proven these PoS LC protocols secure assuming all network messages are delivered within a bounded delay. However, this assumption is not compatible with PoS when considering bandwidth constraints in the underlying communication network. This is because PoS enables the adversary to reuse block production opportunities and spam the network with equivocating blocks, which is impossible in PoW. The bandwidth constraint necessitates that nodes choose carefully which blocks to spend their limited download budget on. We show that 'download along the longest header chain', a natural download rule for PoW LC, emulated by PoS variants, is insecure for PoS LC. Instead, we propose 'download towards the freshest block' and prove that PoS LC with this download rule is secure in bandwidth constrained networks. Our result can be viewed as a first step towards the co-design of consensus and network layer protocols.
Several distributed system paradigms utilize Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs) to realize structured peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays. DHT structures arise as the most commonly used organizations for peers that can efficiently perform crucial services such as data storage, replication, query resolution, and load balancing. With the advances in various distributed system technologies, novel and efficient solutions based on DHTs emerge and play critical roles in system design. DHT-based methods and communications have been proposed to address challenges such as scalability, availability, reliability and performance, by considering unique characteristics of these technologies. In this article, we propose a classification of the state-of-the-art DHT-based methods focusing on their system architecture, communication, routing and technological aspects across various system domains. To the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive survey on DHT-based applications from system architecture and communication perspectives that spans various domains of recent distributed system technologies. We investigate the recently emerged DHT-based solutions in the seven key domains of edge and fog computing, cloud computing, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), Online Social Networks (OSNs), Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), and Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). In contrast to the existing surveys, our study goes beyond the commonly known DHT methods such as storage, routing, and lookup, and identifies diverse DHT-based solutions including but not limited to aggregation, task scheduling, resource management and discovery, clustering and group management, federation, data dependency management, and data transmission. Furthermore, we identify open problems and discuss future research guidelines for each domain.
Conglin Ran, Shuailing Yan, Huang Liang, Lei Zhang
Abstract Ad hoc network is a special network with centerless and dynamic topology. Due to the free mobility of the nodes, routing security has been a bottleneck problem that plagues its development. Therefore, a multi-path QoS (quality of service) routing security algorithm based on blockchain by improving the traditional AODV (ad hoc on-demand distance vector) protocol (AODV-MQS) is proposed. Firstly, a chain of nodes is established in the network and the states of all nodes by making the intermediate nodes on the chain are saved. Secondly, the smart contract in the blockchain is set to filter out the nodes that meet the QoS constraints. Finally, two largest unrelated communication paths are found in the blockchain network through smart contract, one of which is the main path and the other is the standby path. Simulation experiments show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than other algorithms, especially in an unsafe environment.
Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are non-fixed framework systems and there are such a large number of issues with them because of their dynamic topology, portable nodes, security, data transfer capacity, restricted battery strength and so forth. Trust is an association, dependability, unwavering excellence, and loyalty of the nodes in the system. A trusted routing plan is essential to guarantee the routing security and productivity of sensor systems. In perspective on these issues, this manuscript proposes a trusted routing plan utilizing block chain and building up a security model to improve the routing security and productivity for ad hoc networks. The possible routing plan is given for acquiring routing data of routing nodes on the block chain, which makes the routing data distinct and difficult to alter. The support learning model is utilized to help routing nodes progressively select increasingly trusted and productive routing connections. The proposed work introduces a Trust Based Efficient Blockchain Linked Routing Method (TbEBCLRM) for a system of trusted and untrusted nodes. The proposed method utilizes blockchain method to improve security in the ad hoc networks and to avoid malicious activities during communication is initiated. The proposed method is compared with the traditional methods and the results show that the proposed method exhibits better performance in terms of accuracy, security level, trust level and energy consumption.
While direct allocation of spectrum and evolved medium access protocols\nprovide a base for ubiquitous wireless connectivity, the existing TCP/IP and\nOSI models were designed for wired networks and do not address open\ninterconnection of air interfaces. Without an interconnection model for the air\ninterface, existing network designs continue to tie wireless medium access to\nthat of the backhaul provider for ownership of access and identity trust,\nresulting in limitations on functionality and coverage. In this paper, we\npropose a novel solution to access ownership and identity trust by extending\nthe TCP network standard, under a new model we propose, named TCP-Air which\nintegrates distributed ledger technologies directly at the air interface.\nFurther, we present two use cases of the TCP-Air model, demonstrating\napplications not feasible under existing permissioned-access network designs.\n
Security-related data collection is an essential part for attack detection and security measurement in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). Due to no fixed infrastructure of MANETs, a detection node playing as a collector should discover available routes to a collection node for data collection. Notably, route discovery suffers from many attacks (e.g., wormhole attack), thus the detection node should also collect securityrelated data during route discovery and analyze these data for determining reliable routes. However, few literatures provide incentives for security-related data collection in MANETs, and thus the detection node might not collect sufficient data, which greatly impacts the accuracy of attack detection and security measurement. In this paper, we propose B4SDC, a blockchain system for security-related data collection in MANETs. Through controlling the scale of RREQ forwarding in route discovery, the collector can constrain its payment and simultaneously make each forwarder of control information (namely RREQs and RREPs) obtain rewards as much as possible to ensure fairness. At the same time, B4SDC avoids collusion attacks with cooperative receipt reporting, and spoofing attacks by adopting a secure digital signature. Based on a novel Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism by accumulating stakes through message forwarding, B4SDC not only provides incentives for all participating nodes, but also avoids forking and ensures high efficiency and real decentralization at the same time. We analyze B4SDC in terms of incentives and security, and evaluate its performance through simulations. The thorough analysis and experimental results show the efficacy and effectiveness of B4SDC.
Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are a particular subclass of mobile ad hoc networks that raise a number of security challenges, notably from the way users authenticate the network. Authentication technologies based on existing security policies and access control rules in such networks assume full trust on Roadside Unit (RSU) and authentication servers. The disclosure of authentication parameters enables user's trace-ability over the network. VANETs' trusted entities (e.g. RSU) can utilize such information to track a user traveling behavior, violating user privacy and anonymity. In this paper, we proposed a novel, light-weight, Adaptive Group-based Zero Knowledge Proof-Authentication Protocol (AGZKP-AP) for VANETs. The proposed authentication protocol is capable of offering various levels of users' privacy settings based on the type of services available on such networks. Our scheme is based on the Zero-Knowledge-Proof (ZKP) crypto approach with the support of trade-off options. Users have the option to make critical decisions on the level of privacy and the amount of resources usage they prefer such as short system response time versus the number of private information disclosures. Furthermore, AGZKP-AP is incorporated with a distributed privilege control and revoking mechanism that render user's private information to law enforcement in case of a traffic violation.
Due to the mobility of nodes, lack of infrastructure and limited computing and storage resources in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), this scheme uses the self-certification public key, combined with the interactive zero-knowledge proof and KEA+ key exchange method in the GPS identity authentication protocol, uses four interactions to complete the two-way identity authentication and key exchange of both parties, and which security is analyzed subsequently. The scheme effectively reduces the leakage of the claimant's secret knowledge in the identity authentication process, and enhances the reliability of the identity authentication and key exchange process.
Sara Nadeem, Muhammad Rizwan, Fahad Ahmad, Jaweria Manzoor
Cognitive radio, ad hoc networks' applications are continuously increasing in wireless communication globally. In vehicles' environment, cognitive radio technology with mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) enables vehicles to monitor the available channels and to effectively function in these frequencies through sharing ongoing information with drivers and different frameworks to enhance traffic safety on roads. To fulfill the computational storage resourcesâ limitations of a specific vehicle, Vehicular Cloud Computing (VCC) is used by merging VANET with cloud computing. Cloud computing requires high security and protection because authenticate users and attackers have the same rights in VCC. The security is enhanced in CRVANETs, but the distributed nature of cloud unlocks a door for dissimilar attacks, such as trust modal, data security, connection fault and query tracking attacks. This paper proposes an effective and secured blockchain scheme-based distributed cloud architecture in place of conventional cloud architecture to secure the driversâ privacy with low cost and on-demand sensing procedure in CRVANETs ecosystem.
Summary Decentralization, in the form of mesh networking and blockchain, two promising technologies, is coming to the telecommunications industry. Mesh networking allows wider lowâcost Internet access with infrastructures built from routers contributed by diverse owners, whereas blockchain enables transparency and accountability for investments, revenue, or other forms of economic compensations from sharing of network traffic, content, and services. Crowdsourcing network coverage, combined with crowdfunding costs, can create economically sustainable yet decentralized Internet access. This means that every participant can invest in resources and pay or be paid for usage to recover the costs of network devices and maintenance. While mesh networks and mesh routing protocols enable selfâorganized networks that expand organically, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts enable the economic coordination among network providers and consumers. We explore and evaluate two existing blockchain software stacks, Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) and Ethereum geth with Proof of Authority (PoA) intended as a local lightweight distributed ledger, deployed in a real cityâwide production mesh network and in laboratory network. We quantify the performance and bottlenecks and identify the current limitations and opportunities for improvement to serve locally the needs of wireless mesh networks, without the privacy and economic cost of relying on public blockchains.
One remarkable feature of vehicular ad hoc networks is characterized by an opportunistic communications by means of store-carry-forward message relaying which requires the cooperation of vehicles on the networks. However, we cannot be sure that all vehicles willingly contribute their computing resources to the networks for message forwarding with no rewards for their efforts in real-world scenarios. In addition, unfortunately, there may exist some selfish and greedy node which may not help others but tend to take their own gain. To cope with this challenge, incentive mechanisms are generally considered as the promising solution. In this paper, we design a Bitcoin-based secure and reliable incentive scheme for cooperative vehicular delay tolerant networking services. Bitcoin is the well-known worldwide cryptocurrency and digital payment system whose implementation relies on cryptographic techniques, which makes it possible to develop a practical credit-based incentive scheme on the vehicular networks at a low cost. We also implement Bitcoin transaction scripts to handle our proposed incentive scheme.
Mobile Ad hoc network (MANET) is an autonomous system of mobile hosts (nodes) connected by wireless link forming a temporary network without the aid of any established infrastructure or centralized administration. Typical applications of MANETs are: emergency and rescue operations, disaster relief efforts, military operations and exploration mission where cellular infrastructure is unavailable. The main problem of mobile ad hoc networks is to design routing protocols allowing for communication between the hosts. The dynamic nature of ad hoc networks makes this problem especially challenging. Communication in MANET is multi-hop due to limited transmission range; this decentralized operation relies on the cooperative participations of all nodes. MANETs are considered as complex system characterized by high dynamic topology, local interactions, auto-organization and emergence. Modeling and simulation are very important in the design and development of distributed interacting system because of their particular stochastic nature. This article seeks to use agent-based tools for modeling ad hoc network. We focus on Netlogo, an important tool in the modeling and simulation domain of complex system. We have successfully implemented distributed Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm to solve the routing problem. Obtained Results show the quick convergence of Dijkstra's Algorithm to shortest paths relating a source node with all accessible destinations.
A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a group of wireless mobile nodes that dynamically form a network without any pre-established infrastructure or centralized administration, Soewito (2014). Some network hops may be needed to send a packet from one node to another node in the MANET. To do the communication between the nodes, a route has to be selected in the network, therefore it need a routing protocol that manage selection of the route. Selection route in mobile ad-hoc network is not easy because nodes always move so that the topology of network always changed every time. This is a big issue in selection route in mobile ad-hoc network because the route can be broken anytime. Moreover, MANET is more vulnerable than other wireless communication types because every mobile node serves as both the host and the router and forwards packets on behalf of each other. This study presents the analyzing and evaluation several routing algorithms and a novel scheme to build an authentication system by adding the modified zero knowledge proof algorithm to each mobile node in MANET.
In this paper, we present a delay based routing algorithm for ad hoc wireless networks. In an ad hoc environment there is no wired infrastructure and the mobile hosts work as a router to maintain the status about the connectivity. A mobile ad hoc network is an autonomous collection of mobile users (nodes) that communicates over relatively bandwidthconstrained wireless links. Each node is equipped with wireless receivers and transmitters using antennas that may be omnidirectional, highly directional, or possibly steer able. Due to nodal mobility, the network topology may change rapidly and unpredictably over time. The network is decentralized, where network organization and message delivery must be executed by the nodes themselves, i.e., routing functionally will be incorporated into mobile nodes. The design of the network protocols for mobile ad hoc network is a complex issue. These networks need efficient distributed algorithm to determine network organization (connectivity), link scheduling, and routing. But, the existing routing algorithms designed for ad hoc wireless networks have slow response, excessive overhead and become unsuitable under the above considerations. The full approach, for referring the internal state of the network relies on Round Trip Time (RTT) measurements only. We consider the RTT mean and RTT variance as fuzzy input variables and delay as a fuzzy output variable. Under such condition the performance of the proposed algorithm is tested. It is shown that under these conditions the algorithm gives better results. The proposed routing algorithm is simulated in MATLAB 6.5.
Pervasive computing is an exciting and blooming research field, in which innovative techniques and applications are continuously emerging and aim to provide ambient and personalized services to users with high quality. Ad hoc networks are wireless, self-organizing systems formed by co-operating nodes within communication range of each other that form temporary networks. Their topology is dynamic, decentralized, ever changing and the nodes may move around arbitrarily. The last few years have witnessed a wealth of research ideas on ad hoc networking that are moving rapidly into implemented standards. Technology under development for ad hoc networks and pervasive computing is making important steps toward this end goal possible. However, the security concerns remain a serious impediment to widespread adoption. The underlying radio communication medium for wireless network provides serious exposure to attacks against wireless networks. Wireless ad hoc networks usually cannot depend on traditional infrastructure found in enterprise environments such as dependable power sources, high bandwidth, continuous connectivity, common network services, well-known membership, static configuration, system administration, and physical security. Finally, throw in malicious adversaries with Byzantine collusion threats and you have a very interesting and challenging problem. Without adequate security, enterprises will not be able to profit from the use of wireless ad hoc networks and pervasive computing environment, defense organizations might be unable to guarantee the safety of their personnel in battlefield scenarios, and wireless ad hoc networks and pervasive computing will remain on the drawing board even if the other problems associated with them are solved. This special issue is focused on various aspects of security in ad hoc networks and pervasive computing research and development to report both in-depth research and applications-oriented works. The special issue is intended to foster state-of-the-art research in the area of security in ad hoc networks and pervasive computing. The aim of this special issue is to present a collection of high quality research papers that report the latest research advances in security of ad hoc. In this special issue, we selected seven papers, which can demonstrate advanced works in this field. A detailed overview of the selected works is given below. The first paper, An RC4-Based Lightweight Protocol for Secure Data Transmission on Resource-Constrained Devices, presents a simple, lightweight, but robust security protocol based on the backward property of RC4 stream cipher. The proposed protocol provides data confidentiality, data authentication, data integrity, and data freshness with low overhead and simple operation, allows packets be received in an arbitrary order, achieves semantic security, and does not require frequent key renew. The second paper, PAPA-UIC: A Design Approach and a Framework for Secure Mobile Ad-hoc Networks, proposes a new design approach and a framework for securing a practical type of MANETs. The framework is named PAPA-UIC. The paper proposes a secure routing protocol and solutions to general problems of identity-based cryptography. The routing protocol has several improvements over existing ones. The third paper, RFIDGuard: A Lightweight Privacy and Authentication Protocol for Passive RFID Tags, introduces a protocol which requires little computation and achieves both privacy and authentication simultaneously. The lightweight and secure nature of the RFIDGuard protocol make it particularly suitable for supply chain management. The fourth paper, Using Hidden Markov Model to Detect Rogue Access Points, proposes a statistical based approach to detect rogue access points using a Hidden Markov Model, which is applied to passively measure packet-header data collected at a gateway router. The main idea is to process the sequence of packet traces in order to distinguish the normal packets from the abnormal ones. The approach is scalable and non-intrusive, requiring little deployment cost and effort, and is easy to manage and maintain. The fifth paper, Defending Sybil Attacks Based on Neighboring Relations in Wireless Sensor Networks, develops a mechanism to protect a WSN from Sybil attacks without using any authentication-based method. Furthermore, the detection approach requires no specialized hardware or support devices. The feature that a malicious node creates many fake identities is exploited to distinguish legitimate nodes from Sybil/malicious nodes. Since all of the fake identities forged by the same malicious node are associated with the same physical device, they will have the same legitimate neighbors. Therefore, by collecting the neighboring information of the suspected victim of the Sybil attacks, the legitimate nodes which are the neighbors of the malicious nodes can be determined. In contrast to existing protection schemes, this approach has no requirement for shared keys, secret information, or special hardware support. The sixth paper, An Autonomous Attestation Token to Secure Mobile Agents in Disaster Response, introduces the Autonomous Attestation Token (AAT), a hardware token for mobile computing devices that is capable of guaranteeing the trusted state of a limited set of devices without relying on a networked service. The paper proposes a Local Attestation protocol with user interaction that in conjunction with the AAT prevents unauthorized access to an emergency mobile agent platform. In addition, the paper sketches a possible solution which integrates trusted computing to leverage ad hoc networks and peer-to-peer systems to provide a robust communication platform. The seventh paper, Building Advanced Applications with the Belgian eID, introduces the Belgian Electronic Identity Card. The card enables Belgian citizens to digitally prove their identity and to sign electronic documents. This paper presents two reusable extensions to the Belgian eID technology that opens up new opportunities for application developers. First, a secure and ubiquitously accessible remote storage service is presented. Second, it is shown how the eID card can be used to issue new certificates. The feasibility and reusability of both extensions are validated through the development of several applications in different domains. In conclusion, this issue of Security in Ad hoc offers a groundbreaking view into the recent advances in secure ad hoc networks. This issue offers both academic and industry appeal the former as a basis toward future research directions, and the latter toward viable commercial applications. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Editor-in-Chief, Professor HsiaoHwa Chen for his advice, patience, and encouragements since the beginning until the final stage. Special thanks go to Michelle in Wiley during the production. We thank all anonymous reviewers who spent much of their precious time reviewing all the papers. Their timely reviews and comments greatly helped us select the best papers in this special issue. We also thank all authors who have submitted their papers for consideration for this issue. We hope you will enjoy reading the great selection of papers in this issue.
This paper describes a new protocol for authentication in ad-hoc networks. The protocol has been designed to meet specialized requirements of ad-hoc networks, such as lack of direct communication between nodes or requirements for revocable anonymity. At the same time, a ad-hoc authentication protocol must be resistant to spoofing, eavesdropping and playback, and man-in-the-middle attacks. The article analyzes existing authentication methods based on the Public Key Infrastructure, and finds that they have several drawbacks in ad-hoc networks. Therefore, a new authentication protocol, basing on established cryptographic primitives (Merkle's puzzles and zero-knowledge proofs) is proposed. The protocol is studied for a model ad-hoc chat application that provides private conversations.
Philipp Obreiter, Birgitta KönigâRies, Michael Klein
In the context of mobile and wireless devices, an information system is no longer a centralized component storing all the relevant data nor is it a decentralized component governed by a common authority. Rather, the information spread across huge numbers of autonomous mobile and wireless devices owned by independent organizations and individuals can be regarded as a highly dynamic, virtual information system. For this vision to become reality, the autonomous devices involved need to be motivated to cooperate. This cooperation needs to occur not only on the application layer, but, depending on the network architecture, also on the lower layers from the link layer on upwards. In this report, we investigate on which protocol layers cooperation is needed and what constitutes uncooperative behavior. We then identify necessary properties of incentive schemes that encourage cooperation and discourage uncooperative behavior. In this context, we examine remuneration types that are a major constituent of incentive schemes. Finally, using the example of ad hoc networks, the most challenging technical basis of a wireless information system, we compare existing incentive schemes to these characteristics.