Risk-based attack strategies for mobile ad hoc networks under probabilistic attack modeling framework

In this paper, we introduce and design a modeling framework that allows for the study and analysis of attack propagation in mobile ad hoc networks. The choice of a statistical approach for the problem is motivated by the dynamic characteristics of the ad hoc topology and the stochastic nature of threat propagation. Based on this probabilistic modeling framework, we study the impact of topology and mobility in the propagation of software threats over ad hoc networks. We design topology control algorithms that indicate how to properly adjust an attacker’s transmission radius, according to the measured topological characteristics and availability of its resources, in the process of infecting a network more effectively. Then based on these topology control algorithms we develop different attack strategies that may range from independent attacks to cooperative scenarios in order to increase the negative impact of an attack on the network. Our performance evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed topology control algorithms and respective attack strategies effectively balance the tradeoffs between the potential network damage and the attackers’ lifetime, and as a result significantly outperform any other flat and threshold-based approaches.