Mobile ad hoc networks as well as
peer-to-peer systems have attracted remarkable attention in the research
community in recent years.
Fashioned from whatever devices are
immediately available, the self-organizing nature of ad hoc networks promises
spontaneous communication in absence of infrastructure; however, the fact that
ad hoc networks are not yet deployed at large indicates that they are not ready
for prime time. Peer-to-peer systems in contrast have been extremely successful
for quite a number of applications, despite the fact that they share a number
of characteristics with ad hoc networks that appear to have hindered the
success of the latter. From the perspective of security, both types of networks
have in common that they do not exhibit the well-defined borders of
contemporary network technologies. Moreover, both paradigms build on the
cooperation of distributed nodes.
We introduce (1) various research challenges
in the area of distributed systems with particular emphasis on the effects of
node misbehavior in mobile ad hoc networks. We (2) discuss solutions to
mitigate the effects of node misbehavior including an approach towards
geographically secure ad hoc routing as well as the secure combination of
mobile ad hoc networks with peer-to-peer systems.
Colloquium
