Categorization of MANET Attacks

Abstract

Objectives: Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) are networks with wireless connectivity between mobile nodes. As these nodes are mobile in nature, the topology of the network will be ever changing. Unfixed network, no central monitoring system make the MANETs prone to several attacks and the detection of cause also becomes hard. The main objective of this paper is to explain all the attacks discovered till now. Methods/Analysis: In this paper, almost all the possible MANET attacks were defined and are grouped according to their nature. Nearly 50 different attacks are collected and defined. Using this content a beginner can be exposed to all the security issues of MANETs. Findings: MANET attacks are grouped as Misleading attacks, Group attacks, Denial of Service attacks, Identity related attacks, Routing table related attacks, Node Isolation Attacks, Packet related attacks, Confidential data retrieval or passive attack and Other attacks. A researcher need not to search for each attack in different contexts. Almost all the possible attacks and their functioning can be known using this single paper. Applications/Improvement: Till now, in several papers, only few attacks were explained and the solutions were proposed to a single attack. Complete idea on MANET attacks could not be achieved using them. This paper presents classification of a huge number of attacks. Understanding these attacks stated leads to the proposal of solutions and thus improves security in MANETS.