AODV-RIP: improved security in mobile ad hoc networks through route investigation procedure

Most routing protocols in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) place an emphasis on finding paths in dynamic networks without considering security. As a result, there are a number of attacks that can be used to manipulate the routing in MANET. A malicious node that sends a modified control message to an intermediate node can disturb the network using a control message. To solve this problem, we introduce AODV protocol with route investigation procedure (AODV‐RIP). It uses two additional control messages to defeat security attacks that can occur in AODV routing protocol. When an intermediate node that is on the path between the source node and the destination node receives a control message, it sends a Rroute Investigation Request (IREQ) message to the destination node in order to check the reliability of the control message. According to the existence of Route Investigation Reply (IREP), the intermediate node decides whether it transmits the control message to the source node or not. Consequently, the intermediate node that receives the control message confirms that it is using two additive control messages: IREQ and IREP. Through this investigation procedure, the source node can obtain a reliable path for transmitting data packets to an intentional destination node. The simulation results show an improvement in the packet delivery ratio and end‐to‐end delay at the expense of a moderate increase of the control message overhead compared with the current routing protocols. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.