Detection and prevention of man-in-the-middle spoofing attacks in MANETs using predictive techniques in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)

A Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is a convenient wireless infrastructure which presents many advantages in network settings. With Mobile Ad-Hoc Network, there are many challenges. These networks are more susceptible to attacks such as black hole and man-in-the-middle (MITM) than their corresponding wired networks. This is due to the decentralized nature of their overall architecture. In this paper, ANN classification methods in intrusion detection for MANETs were developed and used with NS2 simulation platform for attack detection, identification, blacklisting, and node reconfiguration for control of nodes attacked. The ANN classification algorithm for intrusion detection was evaluated using several metrics. The performance of the ANN as a predictive technique for attack detection, isolation, and reconfiguration was measured on a dataset with network-varied traffic conditions and mobility patterns for multiple attacks. With a final detection rate of 88.235%, this work not only offered a productive and less expensive way to perform MITM attacks on simulation platforms but also identified time as a crucial factor in determining such attacks as well as isolating nodes and reconfiguring the network under attack. This work is intended to be an opening for future malicious software time signature creation, identification, isolation, and reconfiguration to supplement existing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs).