Inter-Domain Path Authentication in Tactical MANETs

This paper presents a lightweight probabilis- tic path authentication scheme for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) based upon a new cryptographic primitive composite MAC. The proposed path-authentication scheme allows us to reliably identify nodes on a route over which a sequence of packets traverses. This path-authentication scheme is robust against selfish or malicious nodes that do not follow the scheme. Furthermore, it allows us to detect, and up to a certain accuracy pinpoint, any misbehaving node that deviates from the correct forwarding behavior. In our scheme, composite MAC can have any length starting from one bit. This flexibility allows the proposed scheme to strike various trade-offs depending on the constraints imposed by the MANET and the desired security proper- ties. We provide an informal security analysis and argue that a short MAC can be sufficient to authenticate paths with high probability.