Intrusion detection in wireless adhoc networks

As the recent denial-of-service attacks on several major In-ternet sites have shown us, no open computer network is immune from intrusions. The wireless ad-hoc network is particularly vulnerable due to its features of open medium, dynamic changing topology, cooperative algorithms, lack of centralized monitoring and management point, and lack of a clear line of defense. Many of the intrusion detection tech-niques developed on a fixed wired network are not applicable in this new environment. How to do it differently and ef-fectively is a challenging research problem. In this paper, we first examine the vulnerabilities of a wireless ad-hoc net-work, the reason why we need intrusion detection, and the reason why the current methods cannot be applied directly. We then describe the new intrusion detection and response mechanisms that we are developing for wireless ad-hoc net-works. 1