The importance of location on trust in mobile networks

  • Authors:
  • Dagmara Spiewak;Volker Fusenig;Thomas Engel

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Luxembourg, FSTC, Luxembourg;University of Luxembourg, FSTC, Luxembourg;University of Luxembourg, FSTC, Luxembourg

  • Venue:
  • WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on COMMUNICATIONS
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

Mobile wireless networks introduce new challenges regarding security and privacy of data. On the other hand self-organization and independence of fixed infrastructure make these networks, such as mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) very attractive for military but also civilian application areas. They allow to extend the wireless link into areas with no readily available communication infrastructure. Additionally, these networks can also be used as a subsequent to the common communication environment in order to assure communication on-the-fly even if the regular network is overwhelmed, like for instance during emergency situation or during major sports or cultural events. With the purpose to overcome the security problem accompaingned with these networks, more and more research is launched in the area of Trust establishment in mobile wireless networks. However Trust in mobile network settings introduces new challenges compared to the conventional notions for infrastructure networks. Especially mobile behavior, which is enabled by wireless links, diversifies Trust research in multiple ways. Hence unfortunately, traditional security concepts, such as Public Key Infrastructures are no accurate solutions to protect sensitive communication and data in these autonomous network environments. Our paper discusses the Trust establishment in mobile wireless networks. We introduce the idea of TrustRings which enables the calculation of Trust-Values for nodes in mobile wireless networks based on an egocentric network model. Furthermore, the model takes the location and distance between communicating entities into account in order to obtain the accurate Trust-value.