In a mobile ad hoc network (MANET), all nodes are communicated with one another across wireless networks to create a temporary network without the support of centralised management. Due to dynamic topology in MANET, secure routing is a crucial issue. The existing secure routing protocol and their security concerns are analysed in this work. The suggested Swarm Intelligence‐based Secure Ad‐hoc On‐demand Distance Vector (SIS‐AODV) algorithm offers security by applying a secret key and hash mechanism to prevent the involvement of malicious nodes in routing operations. A secure routing system of MANET guards against internal and external network attacks. The proposed SIS‐AODV algorithm consists of two sections: the secret key value generated by applying Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC)‐based algorithm and the PRESENT algorithm to encrypt the data packets. Besides, authentication and non‐repudiation are applied using the H‐PRESENT 128 algorithm. The PRESENT algorithm and H‐PRESENT 128 hash function require less computational power. Centralised management is optional in this scheme, so overhead decreases. The second section of SIS‐AODV consists of Ant Colony Grey Wolf Optimization over the AODV algorithm to improve network performance while implementing a security algorithm over MANET. Analysis results show maximum performance with a packet delivery ratio of 98% and throughput of 85%. In addition, end‐to‐end delay is reduced by up to 25%, and routing overhead decreases by up to 20%. Keywords: AODV, Elliptical Curve, PRESENT, H‐PRESENT, Euclidean Algorithm, ACO, GWO, Blackhole attack.