Detecting attacks in a cluster based QOS-OLSR protocol. (c2014)

Abstract

In this thesis, we detect attacks targeting the cluster based QOLSR model in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). The QOLSR is a multimedia protocol that was designed on top of the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR), where the Quality of Service (QoS) of the nodes is considered during the selection of the Multi-Point Relay (MPRs) nodes. One of the drawbacks of this protocol is network lifetime where nodes with limited energy and high bandwidth may be selected to serve as MPRs, which drain nodes’ residual energy and shorten the network lifetime. Thus, in this thesis, we consider the trade-off between extending the lifetime of ad hoc network and QoS assurance based on QOLSR routing protocol. We can accomplish the following by (1) decreasing the number of Multi-Point Relay (MPR) nodes without sacrificing the QoS and (2) observing the energy level, connectivity index, and bandwidth of the MPR nodes. We can reach these goals by deploying the clustering model to QOLSR. Therefore, a new clustering approach and MPR selection process are proposed relying on different combinations of metrics, such as connectivity, residual energy, and bandwidth. Four clustered-based models are derived. Moreover, the cluster-based models are highly vulnerable to security attacks. Two attacks that can be launched against the QoS-OLSR protocol where identified: Identity spoofing and wormhole attacks. Watchdogs are used to detect the attacks performed by malicious nodes. As a solution, we propose to improve the watchdogs’ detection by (1) using cooperative watch-dog model and (2) adding the posterior belief function using Bayes’ rule to the watchdog model. Simulation results are generated in order to evaluate the efficiency of our proposed approaches.