A Survey on Key Management and Certificate Exchange in Mobile Adhoc Network

Abstract

Owing to the wireless and dynamic nature, MANETs are susceptible to security attacks from malicious nodes. Key management, certificate exchange and certificate revocation mechanisms play a vital role in securing the network from attacks. When the certificate of a malicious node is revoked, it is denied from all activities and isolated from the network. This paper surveys various existing mechanisms in key management and certificate exchange. Key management methods are broadly classified into two types namely, contributory and distributive methods. Here, certificate distribution and exchange techniques are classified as trust-based and non-trust based methods. Certificate revocation techniques are classified as voting-based, cluster-based and trust-based schemes. The merits and demerits of each mechanism along with the performance are analyzed. Finally, a comparison table is designed to compare the existing mechanisms in an effective manner.