Authentication via Ambassadors: A Novel Authentication Mechanism in MANETs
Li Feng, Jie Wu · 2007
The reputation bootstrap problem is a significant issue for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). We present a novel mechanism, Authentication Via Ambassadors, which authenticates mobile nodes based on their "social relationship". One commonly-trusted node is elected as the cluster head in each region. Ambassadors, which are moving nodes trusted by the cluster head, are selected and dispatched according to several different criteria to represent the region and perform authentication. A node that anticipates moving into a remote region can search and find an ambassador of that region, and take authentication to obtain a more precise initial reputation in the remote region. Therefore, the trust convergence time is reduced, and many attacks that threat the reputation systems for MANETs are avoided.