Enhancements for distributed certificate authority approaches for mobile wireless ad hoc networks.

Abstract

Mobile wireless ad hoc networks that are resistant to adversarial manipulation are necessary for distributed systems used in military and security applications. Critical to the successful operation of these networks, which operate in the presence of adversarial stressors, are robust and efficient information assurance methods. In this report we describe necessary enhancements for a distributed certificate authority (CA) used in secure wireless network architectures. Necessary cryptographic algorithms used in distributed CAs are described and implementation enhancements of these algorithms in mobile wireless ad hoc networks are developed. The enhancements support a network's ability to detect compromised nodes and facilitate distributed CA services. We provide insights to the impacts the enhancements will have on network performance with timing diagrams and preliminary network simulation studies. 4This page intentionally left blank.5

A Survey of Distributed Certificate Authorities in MANETs

“…Furthermore, it is vulnerable to adversaries because it is a single and independent node that can be attacked easily. For the problem of availability Anderson et al [4] suggested an approach in which CAs are assigned to the nodes repeatedly. While it seems that this technique may solve the availability problem (because the network will be working well as long as 12 there is just one node in the MANET), this approach may become unstable when the nodes are trying to find each other in the network.…”