Improving AODV Protocol against Blackhole Attacks

The proliferation of Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) help to realize the nomadic computing paradigm with ubiquitous access. Though they ensure self-maintainable, dynamic and temporary topology, the MANETS also suffer from constraints in power, storage and computational resources. In addition, the pervasiveness, ubiquity and the inherent wireless nature, warrant appropriate security provisions in these networks that becomes difficult to support, amidst the lack of sufficient resource strengths. As a result, the MANETs are more vulnerable to various communications security related attacks. In this paper, therefore, we attempt to focus on analyzing and improving the security of one of the popular routing protocol for MANETS viz. the Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol. Our focus specifically, is on ensuring the security against the Blackhole Attacks. We propose modifications to the AODV protocol and justify the solution with appropriate implementation and simulation using NS-2.33. Our analysis shows significant improvement in Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) of AODV in presence of Blackhole attacks, with marginal rise in average end-to-end delay.